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As it evolves from experimental to applied medicine, gene therapy might soon find itself steeped in a new controversy: soaring drug prices. No therapy is approved yet in the United States, so discussions about price — as well as crucial questions about how much patients will pay directly — are hypothetical. But industry leaders are already talking about ways to get ahead of potentially massive one-time price tags that could make insurers and patients balk. (Johnson and Dennis, 11/11)

More than 100,000 older Californians are on the leading edge of precision medicine, a trend that could transform modern health care. The Californians, all age 60 or older and patients of Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, agreed to answer survey questions and allow their medical history and DNA to be used to form a database that has been used for several studies published in the journal Genetics. (Kritz, 11/11)