The recently approved gene editing therapy for sickle cell disease modifies a different gene to modulate expression and allow the fetal hemoglobin gene to turn on, rather than directly correcting the sickle cell mutation.

“so the answer would be in gene therapy you know what if we could change the uh the the mutated Gene so there are two or three approaches that have been so far tried one is um using new technologies um Gene editing Technologies to basically change both copies of the gene to now make them into normal so take out your bone marrow which is where blood is made um change the gene from the abnormal Gene to the normal sickle normal hemoglobin Gene — and then reinfuse that back into the patient so that's a gene correction strategy there's another strategy which is very attractive and and fascinating — and I'll just briefly mention it so it turns out that the fetus the human fetus — has a special kind of hemoglobin which is different from adult hemoglobin”