Verve Therapeutics ‘pauses’ tests of its gene editor for heart disease

Verve Therapeutics said Tuesday that it is pausing testing of its closely watched gene-editing treatment for high cholesterol after a patient receiving the drug experienced elevated liver enzymes and low platelet levels.

The news represents a setback for an ambitious project to not only bring forward one of the first gene-editing treatments in humans, but to also do so not for a rare condition but for the leading killer in the developed world.

At the same time, Verve said it has already received approval from Canadian and European regulators to begin a clinical trial of a similar gene-editing compound, called Verve-102, that the company believes will be less likely to cause side effects.