28 November 2025
There have been recent news reports that a US startup has raised tens of millions of dollars to fund research into preconception embryo gene editing to prevent serious hereditary genetic diseases. This startup from San Francisco, called Preventive, has the backing of giants in technology like Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) and Brian Armstrong (CEO of cryptocurrency platform Coinbase). However, pushing the boundaries of human reproduction through preconception embryo gene editing has serious ramifications. It is not as simple as saying this technology, responsibly and safely applied, could cure hereditary genetic diseases and enable people to live longer and healthier lives.
Preventive is co-founded by Lucas Harrington, an expert in gene-editing who has worked with the likes of US scientist and Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna (she and Emmanuelle Charpentier were the first women to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020 for their pioneering work into the development of revolutionary CRISPR gene editing technology). He previously co-founded Mammoth Biosciences with Doudna, a company which raised around $500 million in funding for work in gene editing in adults. He announced in a blog post on 30 October 2025 that:
“Preventive is a public benefit corporation (PBC) dedicated to rigorous research into preventing disease before birth. Our mission is to determine whether the newest generation of gene editing technologies can be used safely and responsibly to correct devastating genetic conditions for future children. If proven to be safe, we believe preventive gene editing could be one of the most important health technologies of the century.”
His blog states that Preventive’s work will focus on responsible and rigorous preclinical research to establish whether preconception embryo gene editing is safe and that:
“Applying this kind of medicine in adults after the disease has taken hold in hundreds of billions of cells is difficult and usually cannot reverse the damage that has already occurred. The incredible therapeutic potential remains, but it is far easier to correct a smaller number of cells before disease progression occurs, such as in an embryo.”
His blog goes on to state that this work will not proceed to clinical trials in humans if its safety cannot be established through extensive research. It adds that the time is right to pursue this as there is a current lack of regulation and oversight, together with limited expert involvement, which has created a landscape which enables “fringe groups to take dangerous shortcuts that could harm patients and stifle responsible investigation”. His blog further states that Preventive is building a multi-disciplinary team of leading gene-editing scientists, reproductive clinicians and drug developers and that joining him in this work will be:
“Matt Krisiloff, CEO of Conception Biosciences, a research organization developing reproductive technologies to help people have children who otherwise could not; Peyton Randolph, Ph.D. from Harvard in David R. Liu’s lab and a co-inventor of prime editing; and Paula Amato, M.D., Professor at Oregon Health & Science University and former President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.”
Preconception embryo gene editing: the wider picture
Pushing the boundaries of human reproduction through preconception embryo gene editing has serious ramifications. It is not as simple as saying this technology, responsibly and safely applied, could cure hereditary genetic diseases and enable people to live longer and healthier lives. Genetically editing embryos in a laboratory before conception makes permanent edits that change not just the future born child’s genome but their descendants as well. Since humans share 99.9 percent of their genome, the protection and integrity of the human genome is at stake and this is a matter of global importance. It is one thing to carry out genetic edits in adults and children to cure or alleviate individual genetic disease solely during their lifetime. It is another matter altogether to make permanent genetic changes that pass down future generations with as yet unknown ramifications and this needs very careful consideration and management.
Preconception embryo genetic editing raises really important questions about the merits, use and access to this immensely powerful technology. Given that it raises critical issues about the status and safeguarding of the human genome, it also begs serious questions about who, how and when decisions are made about its deployment. Should these decisions be led by scientists, drug developers and clinicians? Should gene editing programmes be heavily influenced by financial investors with massive private wealth at their disposal? How will different individuals, groups and nation states approach and adopt this technology and for what purpose? Who should have access to and benefit from it? Should the use of this technology be restricted to tackling serious genetic disease or should it be used for human genetic enhancement? How can this immensely powerful technology be controlled and overseen as there is no effective international regulatory and governance framework?
Preconception embryo genetic editing should also be considered a “dual use” technology. Whilst it can be applied to seek to cure serious hereditary life-limiting and life-threatening genetic diseases, it also has the potential to be used for altogether different purposes. Its inter-relationship with national security and public health must not be underestimated or overlooked. It increasingly has over time the potential to manipulate, change and control human genes, physiology and more – to make the human body stronger or more resistant or susceptible to diseases, viruses, toxins or environmental factors. These sorts of permanent changes could create advantages and inequalities that could be used in nefarious ways that seek to exert control and coercion, to disable and discriminate and wield great power, wealth and influence.
Preventive has announced it intends to focus on preclinical research into whether preconception embryo gene editing is safe and can be applied responsibly in humans. Whilst this is laudable, the fact of the matter is that this powerful and transformative technology is already a reality. It has already been deployed by Chinese scientist He Jiankui in a laboratory in China in 2018 to edit three embryos in an attempt to make them resistant to HIV, resulting in the births of girls who are now aged seven. Whilst that experiment caused international consternation as the technology was not yet deemed safe for human application and resulted in criminal prosecution of the scientist in question, it does not get away from the fact that it happened. In short, the genie is already out of the bottle.
Lucas Harrington rightly acknowledges in his blog that there is currently insufficient infrastructure in place to curtail “fringe groups” from taking “dangerous shortcuts that could harm patients and stifle responsible investigation”. However, the overall picture is wider and more nuanced than that. There are many unknowns and it is not just about where we start but where we ultimately end up and land with this. Can this technology be developed and used with appropriate safeguards? Those with misguided, questionable or nefarious intent could potentially exploit this technology away from oversight and public scrutiny, causing great harm and we need to guard against this. We need to recognise that this will require a paradigm shift in thinking and new joined-up approaches to act on the immensely complex and challenging issues associated with the use, regulation and oversight of preconception embryo gene editing.
Preconception genetic editing of embryos represents a rapidly evolving frontier in human reproduction and the future. The powerful allure and seemingly infinite potential of this technology is gaining traction amongst some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential people. Preventive is not the only startup to spring up recently looking to explore preconception gene-editing of embryos. US firms like Manhattan Genomics co-founded by Cathy Tie (a biotechnology entrepreneur) and Bootstrap Bio have also set their sights on this. As such, close attention should be paid. The decisions and actions of the elite impact us all, as well as future generations, and we cannot be lulled into a false sense of security or just adopt a wait and see approach. The future of preconception embryo gene editing matters and it needs to be taken seriously to successfully control this immensely powerful technology.
For specialist advisory and consultancy and end-to-end legal and practical strategies to plan preconception, fertility, pregnancy, birth and family life contact Louisa Ghevaert by email louisa@louisaghevaertassociates.co.uk or by telephone+44 (0)20 7965 8399.
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