Doctors are a step closer to creating babies with DNA from three people after research on healthy embryos found the procedure was likely to produce normal pregnancies.
Studies on embryos made with extra DNA showed that the majority were indistinguishable from standard IVF embryos, although further tests hinted that the procedure still carried risks.
The work will be reviewed by the UK government’s fertility regulator, which is expected to make a recommendation on whether or not to approve the treatment under licence before the end of the year.
The experimental technique, known as mitochondrial donation, has been developed by researchers in Newcastle to prevent women from passing on devastating and often fatal genetic diseases to their children.