For the Paris Region, challenges are foremost medical: for example, it involves finding treatments for the 240 children born each year in Paris Region, suffering from one of the two most severe forms of sickle cell disease, and for which no curative treatments exist. Gene therapy also promises to cure AIDS patients, while Paris Region is the most metropolitan area affected by this disease.
Challenges are also economic: regarding the growing interest of industrials and private investors for this innovative therapeutic approach, the Paris Region wants to encourage the development of industrial partnerships and the creation of start-ups, generators of progress, value and employment.
Finally, the aim is to reinforce the medical and scientific excellence of the Region, a pioneer in gene therapy, and to increase its scientific influence.