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Top 10 sickle cell disease stories of 2023

Throughout 2023, Sickle Cell Disease News brought readers coverage of the latest clinical research and scientific breakthroughs related to sickle cell disease (SCD). Here are the year’s top 10 most-read articles, each with a brief description. We hope to remain a dependable resource for the SCD community in…

RoslinCT to manufacture CRISPR-based gene therapy Casgevy

RoslinCT will manufacture the groundbreaking new gene therapy Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel) for sickle cell disease (SCD) patients in the U.S. and U.K. RoslinCT, a cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing company, has facilities in Edinburgh, Scotland and Hopkinton, Massachusetts. The company worked with Vertex…

CHMP backs Casgevy, sickle cell gene-editing therapy, for EU

A European Medicines Agency committee has issued a positive opinion on the gene-editing therapy Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel) in treating sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT). The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommendation will be considered by the European Commission in making a final…

Most patients are free from VOEs after gene therapy treatment

Most sickle cell disease (SCD) patients treated with the gene therapy Lyfgenia (lovotibeglogene autotemcel) in clinical trials were free from vaso-occlusive events (VOEs) after a median of three years of follow-up. That’s according to new data from Lyfgenia’s developer, Bluebird Bio, at the 65th American Society of Hematology…

FDA approves Casgevy, 1st CRISPR therapy for sickle cell disease

Note: This story was updated Dec. 12, 2023, to clarify that Lyfgenia treats vaso-occlusive events, including painful vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the gene-editing therapy exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) — now known as Casgevy — for treating sickle cell disease (SCD). The therapy…

FDA approves lovo-cel, now Lyfgenia, for sickle cell disease

Note: This story was updated Dec. 12, 2023, to clarify that Lyfgenia treats vaso-occlusive events (VOEs), including painful vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved lovotibeglogene autotemcel, a gene therapy from Bluebird Bio known as lovo-cel, for treating sickle cell disease (SCD) patients ages…

Gene-editing therapy Casgevy approved in 2nd country: Bahrain

Health regulators in the Kingdom of Bahrain have approved the gene-editing therapy Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel) to treat people with sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT). This decision makes Bahrain, a small island nation in the Persian Gulf, the second country to approve Casgevy. The therapy was…