Nonprofit revives gene therapy program after UK startup closure

Bloomsbury Genetic Therapies, a U.K.-based gene‑therapy startup, announced it was shutting its doors after treating only a single patient. The company’s closure left its lead experimental therapy without a development path.

A nonprofit organization has now taken over that lead program, aiming to continue its development and bring it back toward clinical testing. The move seeks to preserve the investment and scientific work already performed.

The effort is linked to a physician in the Pennsylvania Dutch region who has long collaborated with biotech firms and academic groups to create gene‑therapy options for severely ill children in Amish and Mennonite communities. The nonprofit’s involvement could provide a new avenue for those patients.