News

People with sickle cell disease (SCD) who live in sub-Saharan Africa are less likely than those in other countries to use common medications to manage the condition, including over-the-counter pain-relieving medicines, a study found. These patients also tended to report a lower perceived disease burden than those in high-income…

Clinician bias toward people with sickle cell disease (SCD) may be tied to stigma around opioid use, rather than race or chronic pain alone, a new study suggests. “Although patients with sickle cell disease routinely use opioid medications to manage their chronic pain, the vast majority do not…

Children with sickle cell anemia (SCA), the most common and severe form of sickle cell disease (SCD), show signs of altered development in specific regions of the brain, even in children without a history of silent or overt stroke, a new study from the U.S. reports. Using an artificial…

Beam Therapeutics plans to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve ristoglogene autogetemcel, or risto-cel, its single-dose, gene-edited cell therapy candidate for people with sickle cell disease (SCD), as early as year’s end. The application is expected to be supported by now-published interim data from…

Agios Pharmaceuticals is planning to file an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming months that will seek accelerated approval of its oral therapy mitapivat for sickle cell disease (SCD). This decision by Agios follows a prefiling meeting with the regulatory agency in…

The Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) — a national funding agency created to support medical R&D in the Asian nation — has awarded up to $32 million to Epifrontier Therapeutics to advance the clinical development of EPF-001, its investigational therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD)…

Through a project aimed at building empathy and understanding among clinicians about sickle cell disease (SCD)-related pain episodes, a team of nurses in Chicago has helped standardize emergency care for these complications and reduce door-to-painkiller time, according to a study. “I set out on this initiative with a very…

A bipartisan team of U.S. senators has introduced legislation to renew funding for a national initiative that connects people with blood disorders such as sickle cell disease (SCD) with unrelated donors for stem cell transplants. If the legislation passes, the national initiative, known as the C.W. Bill Young Cell…

Adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) face a substantial risk of stroke, most often in their 30s and 40s, with lasting physical disability and cognitive impairment, a new study reports. Also, despite recommendations, few patients received blood transfusions shortly after stroke, underscoring “significant gaps in acute stroke management,”…

Hematologists-oncologists who specialize in sickle cell disease (SCD) report higher levels of burnout than those not specializing in SCD, even though no differences in grit and resilience were found between the two groups, according to a nationwide U.S. study. The study surveyed more than 150 hematology-oncology doctors, who are…