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A 13-year old girl in the UK saw her cancer go into remission after becoming the first person in the world to receive a treatment that relies on a newer type of Crispr gene editing called base editing. (Lisa Jarvis, 12/13)

Several approved gene therapy medicines now exist. All involve taking a virus, replacing its harmful contents with a disease-treating gene, and injecting it into a person (or exposing the person’s cells to that virus in a dish and putting them back). (Fyodor Urnov, 12/9)

Physicians who specialize in addiction treatment and who care for people with opioid use disorder in settings outside of institutional opioid treatment programs are hamstrung by unscientific federal regulations that prohibit them from prescribing methadone for treating opioid use disorder. (Greg Rudolf, 12/12)

The MAT Act would eliminate the special Drug Enforcement Administration waiver that doctors must apply for in order to prescribe buprenorphine (a medication that helps reduce the craving for opioids). (12/12)

Pharma investors are finally getting the M&A they’ve been craving. Amgen Inc. is paying $27.8 billion in cash for Horizon Therapeutics Plc, adding a portfolio of drugs for rare autoimmune diseases. (Lisa Jarvis, 12/12)