Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular diseases are a group of disorders affecting the heart and blood vessels, including atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, hypertension, heart failure, arrhythmias, valvular disease and cerebrovascular disease. Their onset is driven by an interplay of genetic, metabolic and lifestyle factors, with an often insidious onset and a prolonged course.
According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide: it claimed an estimated 17.9 million lives in 2019, 32% of all deaths that year, with about one third occurring in people under 70. The resulting burden on health, society and the economy is immense.
Other diseases
Beyond genetic disorders, metabolic, infectious and autoimmune diseases account for a large share of the global disease burden. The International Diabetes Federation estimates that 537 million adults were living with diabetes in 2021, a figure projected to rise to 783 million by 2045; infectious diseases remain among the leading causes of death worldwide; and autoimmune diseases now affect roughly one in ten people, with prevalence still rising.
What these conditions share is a vast affected population and a protracted course: many patients respond inadequately to, or cannot tolerate, existing medicines, and many of these diseases still lack treatments that alter the disease course, let alone cure it — an enormous unmet clinical need.
Gene-editing medicines offer a new possibility here: by precisely targeting key genes or engineering immune cells, they may change the course of disease at its root and provide longer-lasting treatment options.
Reforgene continues to explore gene-editing medicines for more prevalent diseases, including metabolic, infectious and autoimmune conditions, with the aim of applying this technology to broader clinical use and reaching more patients.
