Mary Chapman, features writer —

A Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating whether adding red blood cell exchange to standard-of-care improves outcomes for adults with high-risk sickle cell disease (SCD) is still recruiting at sites across the U.S., as well as in France and Brazil. The study, called Sickle Cell Disease and CardiovAscular Risk Red…

A $12.2-million grant awarded to the New York-based Mount Sinai Health System will enable a nationwide observational study to help better personalize sickle cell disease (SCD) treatments. “Sickle cell traditionally has been a neglected disease, but it benefited from a flurry of innovation over the last decade and…

To help heighten awareness of sickle cell disease (SCD) and pediatric cancers, while bringing comfort and relief to patients, the supplemental insurance provider Aflac recently gifted its My Special Aflac Duck social robot to children at the University of New Mexico (UNM) Children’s Hospital in Albuquerque. The delivery…

A $1.9-million federal grant has been awarded to a clinical trial that seeks to find effective ways to improve adherence to hydroxyurea treatment among children and young adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). Marketed as Droxia and Siklos, hydroxyurea is an oral therapy approved to reduce the frequency…

Because many individuals of African ancestry don’t know they have the sickle cell trait or what it means to be a carrier, 23andMe and the nonprofit organization Sickle Cell 101 are collaborating to expand an awareness program. With the collaboration, up to 1,000 U.S. adults of African…

To help bring new therapies more quickly and cost effectively to those with sickle cell disease (SCD) in sub-Saharan countries — where patients bear a significantly high SCD burden — the U.S.-based biotechnology company Functional Fluidics is planning to expand its operations into Africa. The expansion is expected…

A new, interactive application touted as the first of its kind can help people with sickle cell disease (SCD) learn about and communicate with their care team about their pain attacks. Called Pinpoint, the app is the product of a partnership between healthcare purchased services provider HPC…

Pfizer has decided to end a treatment discovery program with Syros Pharmaceuticals that it inherited after acquiring Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) last year, leaving Syros to seek another partner for the program, which targets two blood disorders, including sickle cell disease (SCD). The agreement termination was announced…

Genetic medicines company Scribe Therapeutics has expanded its collaboration with Sanofi to advance the development of a new wave of in vivo treatments for sickle cell disease (SCD) and other disorders. The collaboration leverages Scribe’s proprietary CRISPR X-Editing technologies and Sanofi’s targeted non-viral delivery technologies for the…

The Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA) and the MedicAlert Foundation are partnering on a pilot program to help those living with sickle cell disease (SCD) receive faster and better emergency care. With the aim of improving the safety and well-being of patients during acute pain…