20 September 2013 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Publishers

Gene therapy is a hot topic on Wall Street, with investors ready to bank on its future success. But could this recent investment bubble--$209 million since April 2013--be a repeat of the 1990s, in which a similar surge in investments in gene therapy companies came crashing down when the clinical results could not support the hype? Not according to James Wilson, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The current gene therapy field is quite robust and is grounded in strong science, improved technology, and better clinical targets, says Dr. Wilson in the article "Bulls, Bubbles, and Biotech," (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/hum.2013.2509) available on the Human Gene Therapy website (http://www.liebertpub.com/hgt).

"While there are admittedly some superficial similarities to the frothy atmosphere that existed in the mid-to late 1990s in this space, I contend that the current state of affairs in cell and gene therapy is very different from what was in place when the bubble burst in 2000," says Dr. Wilson, Director of the Gene Therapy Program, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia. "The scientific foundation of the field is much more solid in 2013 than it was in the year 2000."