🧬 Altman Backs Startup Studying Gene-Edited Embryos

Preventive, a San Francisco biotech founded this year by geneticist Lucas Harrington and funded with $30 million, is researching gene editing of human embryos to try to eliminate hereditary diseases—even though U.S. federal rules bar embryo gene-editing clinical trials. The company counts OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong among its backers.

Preventive says its goal is to show embryo editing can be done safely before any attempt to create gene-edited babies. The Wall Street Journal reports executives privately identified a couple interested in participating; Harrington has publicly denied the firm is close to implanting an edited embryo.

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