LOS ANGELES, April 19 -- Malaysian physician-scientist Dr Swee Lay Thein and American researcher Dr Stuart H. Orkin have won the US$3 million (RM11.86 million) Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for research that helped create the first approved CRISPR gene-editing therapy.

According to a report in LiveScience, the pair were honoured for work that led to Casgevy, a treatment seen as the first functional cure for sickle cell disease and severe beta-thalassaemia.

The breakthrough works by switching fetal haemoglobin back on - a natural form of haemoglobin used before birth that does not trigger the dangerous cell damage linked to the disorders.

Their discovery centred on blocking BCL11A, a gene regulator that normally shuts fetal haemog...