After the publicity stunt of Ascendance CEO Aaron Traywick, where he injected himself with a gene therapy compound for the eradication of herpes virus (HSV) in humans, the assessment of its efficacy proves to be more difficult than initially expected. In a recently published video, it is explained that blood testing for antibodies is an unsuitable method for assessing this type of vaccine, and PCR amplification of swab samples have a high chance of showing false positives. Still, swab sampling multiple parts of his body to detect potential outbreaks remaining herpes virus is the current method of choice to try and prove the efficacy of the investigative gene therapy. The upcoming weeks and months will show if any meaningful results can be produced from the ongoing case study.
