Will Sullivan in Smithsonian:
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee met last week to discuss human trials of artificial wombs, which could one day be used to keep extremely premature, or preterm, infants alive. Artificial wombs have been tested with animals, but never in human clinical trials. The FDA has not approved the technology yet, but the advisory panel discussed the available science, as well as the clinical risks, benefits and ethical considerations of testing artificial wombs with humans.
“It’s a new treatment modality,” Matthew Kemp, an obstetrician at the National University of Singapore, tells Nature News’ Max Kozlov. “The bottom line is they’ve got to make a really strong case that it’s better and safer in the short and long term” compared to current treatments. In 2020, an estimated 13.4 million babies worldwide were born prematurely—or before 37 weeks of pregnancy—making up more than 10 percent of all births. Preterm birth is the leading cause of death for children under five years of age, according to the World Health Organization.
More here.