European regulators have approved a trial for DNA-splicing therapy to treat a blood disorder, paving the way for genetic modification of humans for the first time, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail on Sunday.
The trial will be used to treat the blood disorder "beta thalassaemia," which attacks the production of hemoglobin, a protein which facilitates transporting oxygen in blood.
Biotech company Crispr Therapeutics' scientists hope altering a body's genetic code can stop the mutation and "restore healthy levels of hemoglobin," according to the report.
"We will look back and think that this is the real beginning of gene therapy," professor Robin Lovell-Badge told The Telegraph, U.K.
A similar medical trial has already been underway in China, according to the report.
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