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Legislation to provide new outreach and support services to Colorado residents living with sickle cell disease (SCD) is now law. Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed the measure (SB24-042) calling for the appropriation of $200,000 to make the Arie P. Taylor Sickle Cell Disease Outreach Program part of the…

Note: This story was updated June 17, 2024, to correct that “Shine the Light on Sickle Cell” is a SiNERGe campaign independent of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. The theme of this year’s World Sickle Cell Day is “Hope Through Progress: Advancing Care Globally” and supporters are all…

A second clinical study to test how well BioLineRx’s motixafortide helps mobilize hematopoietic stem cells for use in gene therapies in sickle cell disease (SCD) is expected to begin enrolling in the next few months. The planned Phase 1 study, called SCDSTEMM (NCT06442761), will run as a…

The Bahrain Oncology Center now is among the first in the world to offer Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel), an approved gene-editing therapy, to people with sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT), a related blood disorder. That milestone, announced in a release by the country’s regulatory authority,…

Longer gaps in transitioning from pediatric to adult care were associated with more hospital stays for people with sickle cell disease (SCD), a study indicates. Young adults who had a delay of more than six months were twice as likely to be hospitalized over those who made the switch…

Certain blood biomarkers of fat dysregulation, inflammation, and red blood cell destruction, known as hemolysis, may be used to predict the short-term risk of acute chest syndrome (ACS) in people with sickle cell disease (SCD). That’s according to a new study from France, in which scientists identified these…

The 2024 Shaw Prize in Life Science & Medicine has been awarded to two U.S. scientists whose discoveries paved the way for the development of gene therapies for sickle cell disease (SCD) and other blood disorders. This year’s prize — carrying a gold medal and a $1.2 million award…

Short-term exposure to air pollutants may be associated with a higher risk of hospitalization among children with sickle cell disease (SCD), according to a new study examining data from the southeastern U.S. state of South Carolina. In particular, more so-called hospital encounters were seen in SCD children within two…

Treatment with the gene-editing therapy Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel) substantially decreased the rates of painful vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) among people with sickle cell disease taking part in a Phase 2/3 clinical trial. Full results from the trial, which supported the recent approvals of Casgevy in the U.S.,…

The Colorado House of Representatives has passed legislation that seeks to improve health outcomes for state residents who live with sickle cell disease (SCD) through a new community outreach program. If made into law, the measure (SB24-042) would appropriate $200,000 to establish the Arie P. Taylor Sickle Cell…