On September 14, 1990, W. French Anderson and his colleagues at the NIH performed the first approved gene therapy procedure on a four-year-old girl born with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) (Anderson, 1990).

When did we start using gene therapy?

The first humans to receive gene therapy took place in 1970. It was administered to two very young West German sisters suffering from hyperargininemia, an extremely rare genetic disorder that prevents the production of arginase.

Who introduced gene therapy?

French Anderson, MD, was “dubbed 'the father of gene therapy' after a team he led in 1990 cured a hereditary disease of the immune system in a 4-year-old girl.” That's not quite the way it happened.