The field of gene therapy is striving more than ever to define a path to the clinic and the market. Twenty gene therapy products have already been approved and over two thousand human gene therapy clinical trials have been reported worldwide. These advances raise great hope to treat devastating rare and inherited diseases as well as incurable illnesses. Understanding of the precise pathomechanisms of diseases as well as the development of efficient and specific gene targeting and delivery tools are revolutionizing the global market. Currently, human cancers and monogenic disorders are indications number one. The elevated prevalence of genetic disorders and cancers, clear gene manipulation guidelines and increasing financial support for gene therapy in clinical trials are major trends. Gene therapy is presently starting to become commercially profitable as a number of gene and cell-based gene therapy products have entered the market and the clinic. This article reviews the history and development of twenty approved human gene and cell-based gene therapy products that have been approved up-to-now in clinic and markets of mainly North America, Europe and Asia.

Therapeutic plasmapheresis (TP) is the process of the separation and removal of plasma from other blood components and is considered as an adjunctive treatment strategy to the discarded abnormal agent in the management of respiratory viral pandemics. This article reviews the mechanisms of immunopathogenesis and coagulopathy induced by SARS-CoV-2 and the potential benefits of TP as adjunctive treatment in critically COVID-19 patients.

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