World's first personalized gene-editing therapy costs $1.65 million per patient, project director says

At a rare disease conference in Oxford, Fyodor Urnov disclosed that the world's first therapy designed to correct an individual’s unique genetic mutation cost $1.65 million to produce.

The treatment, referred to as Baby KJ’s gene-editing drug, represents a milestone in personalized medicine but its price highlights the financial challenges of tailoring therapies to single patients.

Urnov, director of therapeutic R&D at the Innovative Genomics Institute, said the cost reflects the complexity of manufacturing a one-off gene-editing product and underscores the need for new financing models.