News

Bluebird bio will resume its study of lovotibeglogene autotemcel (lovo-cel) in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) lifting of its yearlong partial clinical hold for patients under age 18. The temporary holdup stemmed from an investigation into…

UC San Diego Health has won the 2022 California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (CAPH) Quality Leaders Award in the health equity category for its  same-day outpatient infusion program, which seeks to mitigate healthcare disparities in sickle cell disease (SCD). Each year, the CAPH recognizes initiatives by…

An imbalance of microbes in the digestive tract was found to contribute to bone disease in a mouse model study of sickle cell disease. Researchers discovered that transplanting healthy gut microbes protected the animals against SCD-related bone loss by increasing the levels of a bone growth hormone, which rose in…

New preclinical data support the ability of the ESCAPE platform, an approach Beam Therapeutics is advancing, to more safely prepare people with sickle cell disease (SCD) for gene-editing treatments now in development. Notably, these studies represent the first in vivo data for ESCAPE — that is, the experimental platform’s first evaluation in living…

A lung ultrasound may help in diagnosing acute chest syndrome (ACS), a serious lung complication in sickle cell disease (SCD), a pooled analysis of studies suggests. In fact, according to researchers, a lung ultrasound may be a better option than repeated chest X-rays to support an ACS diagnosis. An…

The experimental gene-editing therapy EDIT-301 appears to be working largely as expected in the first two sickle cell disease (SCD) patients treated as part of the Phase 1/2 RUBY trial, according to new data shared by the therapy’s developer, Editas Medicine. “These promising clinical results from the RUBY…

A $100,000 grant from Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) will help expand a novel nurse training program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) that aims to improve care for sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. The free training program — a “boot camp” for registered nurses —…

Reduced dietary iron eased blood vessel blockages and lessened organ damage in a mouse model of sickle cell disease (SCD), a new U.S.-based study reported. Low iron also reduced gut inflammation in SCD mice and restored a healthy balance of gut microbes. “Our study demonstrates for the…

People with sickle cell anemia are at a significantly higher risk of developing periodontitis, a serious gum disease, a study reported. In turn, periodontitis was associated with elevated levels of inflammation markers in patients and a three times greater chance of more than three painful vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) each year.

The Qatar Ministry of Public Health has approved Endari (L-glutamine) to treat adults and children, starting at age 5, with sickle cell disease (SCD), the therapy’s developer, Emmaus Life Sciences, announced. “We are grateful that Qatari officials made access to Endari easier for the sickle cell patients…