Several gene therapies have already received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and experts predict that 40 to 60 more could be approved over the next decade for a range of conditions. Dr. Evans hopes a gene therapy for osteoarthritis—a form of arthritis affecting more than 32.5 million U.S. adults—will be one of them.

Recently, Dr. Evans and a team of 18 researchers and clinicians reported the results of a first-in-human, Phase I clinical trial of a novel gene therapy for osteoarthritis.

The findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, demonstrate that the therapy is safe, achieved sustained expression of a therapeutic gene inside the joint and offered early evidence of clinical benefit.