Tech billionaires back startup pushing illegal gene-edited ‘designer babies’

A Silicon Valley startup backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong is pursuing research that some fear could lead to the birth of a genetically engineered baby — a step that’s illegal under US law and banned in most countries, a report said.

The company, Preventive, says its goal is to end hereditary disease by editing human embryos before birth, a claim that has ignited fierce debate over safety, ethics and the specter of designer children, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Preventive, founded earlier this year by gene-editing scientist Lucas Harrington, has raised $30 million and set up headquarters in San Francisco, where it is conducting research on modifying embryos to prevent hereditary disease.

The company says its mission is to prove the technology can be made safe and transparent before any attempt to create a baby is made.

Altman and Armstrong are among the firm’s early investors, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Altman’s husband, Oliver Mulherin, said he led their investment, calling it an effort to help families avoid genetic illness.

Armstrong, who has publicly promoted embryo editing, posted that he was “excited” to back Preventive and argued it is far easier to correct a genetic defect in an embryo than to treat disease later in life.

But federal law prohibits the Food and Drug Administration from considering applications for human trials involving genetically edited embryos used to start pregnancies.

Harrington, who earned his doctorate under CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna, denied that Preventive is preparing to implant an edited embryo or working with a couple to do so.

He said the company’s focus is preclinical research on whether editing embryos can be done safely.

“We are not trying to rush things,” Harrington told the Journal.

“We are committed to transparency in our research and will publish our findings, whether positive or negative.”

People familiar with Preventive’s operations told the Journal that the company had explored foreign jurisdictions, including the United Arab Emirates, where embryo editing might be permitted.

Harrington said work outside the US was being considered only because of regulatory restrictions, not to evade oversight.

The company has recruited advisers from reproductive medicine and genetics. Preventive’s website describes it as a public-benefit corporation, meaning it can legally prioritize social good alongside profit.

Its charter defines that purpose as the “responsible advancement of genome editing technologies applied before birth to benefit humanity.”

The effort echoes the 2018 scandal in which Chinese scientist He Jiankui created the world’s first gene-edited babies, twins whose embryos had been altered to resist HIV.

He served three years in prison for illegal medical practices. Scientists say it remains unclear how the edits affected the children, who have not been publicly identified.

Harrington’s venture arrives as Silicon Valley money flows into reproductive genetics.

Manhattan Genomics, co-founded by biotech entrepreneur Cathy Tie, and California-based Bootstrap Bio are also exploring embryo editing. Both have drawn scrutiny from bioethicists and regulators for discussing potential trials outside the US.

Critics warn that commercial embryo editing risks crossing into eugenics.

“They are either lying, delusional, or both,” Fyodor Urnov, a director at the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley, told the Journal.

“These people armed with very poorly deployed sacks of cash are working on ‘baby improvement’.”

Supporters insist the goal is medical, not cosmetic.

Harrington and his advisers say early use cases would target devastating monogenic disorders such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease, in which parents who both carry the same gene mutation have no chance of conceiving a healthy child through traditional IVF.

The Post has sought comment from Preventive, Altman and Armstrong.