Birth of a New Therapeutic Platform: 47 Years of Adeno-associated Virus Biology From Virus Discovery to Licensed Gene Therapy

Within American biomedical research, as supported primarily by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since the post–World War II era, it has been considered axiomatic that investments in discovery research will ultimately lead to the development of novel approaches to diagnostics and therapeutics that will improve the health and well-being of citizens of the United States and the broader world. I reflect here in a historical context on how one such series of investments in discovery has resulted in the emergence of the first licensed human gene therapy product in Europe, namely Glybera.