The idea of altering a gene to cure or treat a disease is fairly new, but with the first U.S. approvals of cell and gene therapies in 2017, that  concept is now a reality. And the pace of research and development in cell and gene therapy is increasing. A 2018 PhRMA report on the cell and gene therapy pipeline found 289 therapies in clinical development by biopharmaceutical companies in the United States. Today that number is 362.