Last year, a little-known Chinese startup took center stage at the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy annual convention in New Orleans. Speaking before a sprawling conference hall for the presidential symposium, HuidaGene CEO Alvin Luk presented data from one of the world’s first trials to test if CRISPR gene editing could treat children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an intractable, fatal disease. Similar efforts in the U.S. ran aground amid technical challenges, but HuidaGene had surged ahead, using a regulatory pathway that lets Chinese hospitals start studies without oversight from government regulators. Advertisement The results, from the first two patients, were…