Kaplitt, who hopes to have a full-scale clinical trial for the gene therapy approach underway by year-end, says there are several "inherent advantages" to this new option. Most notably, there are no wires or batteries in the body that could cause infection, it avoids the risks of putting a new electrical source in the brain, and the pacemaker has to be tuned frequently, whereas the gene, according to animal studies, should remain effective for several years.

"If I had these two therapies side by side," Kaplitt says, "I and most of my patients would choose the gene therapy approach."

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