Gene drives are natural or artificial processes that favor the inheritance of certain genes throughout a population. Target Malaria is developing gene drives to change the genomes of malaria-carrying mosquitoes to eradicate the disease.

Gene drives have also been suggested for reducing wild-animal suffering. For example, transhumanist philosopher David Pearce proposes CRISPR-based gene drives for promoting low-pain alleles in sexually reproducing wild animals. The leader of the MIT Media Lab’s Sculpting Evolution group Kevin M. Esvelt also has written favorably about engineered gene drives for reducing wild-animal suffering.