The company, Preventive, says its goal is to end hereditary disease by editing human embryos before birth, a claim that has ignited fierce debate over safety, ethics and the specter of designer children, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Preventive, founded earlier this year by gene-editing scientist Lucas Harrington, has raised $30 million and set up headquarters in San Francisco, where it is conducting research on modifying embryos to prevent hereditary disease.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is an investor in a startup involved in researching the creation of genetically engineered babies. Getty Images for Vanity Fair

The company says its mission is to prove the technology can be made safe and transparent before any attempt to create a baby is made.

Altman and Armstrong are among the firm’s early investors, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Altman’s husband, Oliver Mulherin, said he led their investment, calling it an effort to help families avoid genetic illness.

Armstrong, who has publicly promoted embryo editing, posted that he was “excited” to back Preventive and argued it is far easier to correct a genetic defect in an embryo than to treat disease later in life.

But federal law prohibits the Food and Drug Administration from considering applications for human trials involving genetically edited embryos used to start pregnancies.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also backing the Silicon Valley startup, Preventive. REUTERS

Harrington, who earned his doctorate under CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna, denied that Preventive is preparing to implant an edited embryo or working with a couple to do so.

He said the company’s focus is preclinical research on whether editing embryos can be done safely.

“We are not trying to rush things,” Harrington told the Journal.

“We are committed to transparency in our research and will publish our findings, whether positive or negative.”

People familiar with Preventive’s operations told the Journal that the company had explored foreign jurisdictions, including the United Arab Emirates, where embryo editing might be permitted.

Harrington said work outside the US was being considered only because of regulatory restrictions, not to evade oversight.

The company has recruited advisers from reproductive medicine and genetics. Preventive’s website describes it as a public-benefit corporation, meaning it can legally prioritize social good alongside profit.

The company, Preventive, says its goal is to end hereditary disease by editing human embryos before birth. Shutterstock

Its charter defines that purpose as the “responsible advancement of genome editing technologies applied before birth to benefit humanity.”

The effort echoes the 2018 scandal in which Chinese scientist He Jiankui created the world’s first gene-edited babies, twins whose embryos had been altered to resist HIV.

He served three years in prison for illegal medical practices. Scientists say it remains unclear how the edits affected the children, who have not been publicly identified.

Harrington’s venture arrives as Silicon Valley money flows into reproductive genetics.

Federal law prohibits the Food and Drug Administration from considering applications for human trials involving genetically edited embryos used to start pregnancies. wimages – stock.adobe.com

Manhattan Genomics, co-founded by biotech entrepreneur Cathy Tie, and California-based Bootstrap Bio are also exploring embryo editing. Both have drawn scrutiny from bioethicists and regulators for discussing potential trials outside the US.

Critics warn that commercial embryo editing risks crossing into eugenics.

“They are either lying, delusional, or both,” Fyodor Urnov, a director at the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley, told the Journal.

“These people armed with very poorly deployed sacks of cash are working on ‘baby improvement’.”

Supporters insist the goal is medical, not cosmetic.

Harrington and his advisers say early use cases would target devastating monogenic disorders such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease, in which parents who both carry the same gene mutation have no chance of conceiving a healthy child through traditional IVF.

The Post has sought comment from Preventive, Altman and Armstrong.

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Russel Maxwell Phay, 43, of Nevada, was charged with first-degree attempted murder and related offenses for invading the Ty Inc. billionaire’s Montecito home and viciously attacking a 60-year-old woman who was inside on May 21, according to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, NBC News reported.

Ty Warner’s Santa Barbara mansion was broken into. Tribune News Service via Getty Images

42-year-old Russell Maxwell Phay has been charged with first-degree attempted murder. Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office

The victim, Linda Malek-Aslanian, a financial services expert, was found battered outside the ritzy estate and taken to a nearby hospital, where she remains comatose due to a brain injury, court documents obtained by local station KSBW showed. 

The famously reclusive 80-year-old CEO — who is worth a staggering $6.1 billion, according to Forbes — was home during the alleged home invasion and assault but was not harmed. 

A woman is in a coma after she was violently attacked during a break-in at the California mansion of the Beanie Babies billionaire. SB Sheriff’s Office

Aslanian and Warner have known each other for 25 years and are rumored to be romantically involved, sources familiar with both told The Post.

Police responded to the Fairway Road home at 4:31 p.m. and found the suspected attacker barricaded inside a second-floor bathroom, according to the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office. 

A crisis team tried to coax the brute from the bathroom before he jumped out of a window and was immediately taken into custody. 

Officials seen near the scene of the crime. KEYT

Phay, an Army combat veteran, was also charged with kidnapping, burglary and assault. 

The alleged assailant, who has had previous run-ins with the law, was featured in a 2014 San Francisco Chronicle column about a specialized court system created for military veterans where he boasted his ability to “eliminate” anyone. 

“I am fully trained for combat,” Phay told the Chronicle.

“I have been trained to eliminate you. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true.”

Ty Warner, creator of Beanie Babies toys, shakes hands in a rare appearance to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Beanie Babies toy line in 2003. Getty Images

At the time, Phay had been accused of following his wife across state lines and threatening her. He also faced battery and assault charges in 2018, though the case was dismissed the next year, KSBW reported. 

He is being held at the Santa Barbara County Southern Branch Jail and is due back in court on June 2. 

Aslanian is currently a financial advisor at NYLIFE Securities but previously worked as an asset manager for the Four Seasons Hotel Warner owns on Billionaires’ Row in Manhattan. 

She is also an architect and was involved in a renovation of the swanky hotel about a decade ago, sources told The Post.

Aslanian, who got a Masters of Arts in architecture from Columbia University and an MBA from Baruch College, has an apartment about four blocks from the hotel at 225 E. 57th St., public records showed. 

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