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ARU-1801, an experimental gene therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD), lowered the number of vaso-occlusive crises and led to  blood cells producing fetal hemoglobin in a first group of three treated patients, according to data from an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial. Favorable safety is…

Two U.S. nonprofits are partnering to tackle legislative issues that benefit sickle cell disease (SCD) patients and their families. The partnership between the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA) and the Sickle Cell Community Consortium (SCCC) will include collaborating on the association’s annual Advocacy Day…

Six months of treatment with Oxbryta (voxelotor) safely and effectively increased hemoglobin levels and reduced red blood cell destruction, or hemolysis, in children ages 4–11 with sickle cell disease (SCD), according to data from the ongoing Phase 2 HOPE-KIDS 1 trial. These findings are consistent with those…

A non-viral, CRISPR-based gene-editing tool showed a potential to reverse mutations that cause sickle cell disease (SCD) by successfully editing genes in stem cells within the bone marrow of mice. Data from this proof-of-concept study…

A spoken word poetry contest is welcoming submissions from people with sickle cell disease (SCD) and their caregivers. The contest, “Lift Every Voice to Shine the Light on Sickle Cell,” is being jointly launched by Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) and the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the label of Chiesi Global Rare Diseases’ iron-binding oral treatment Ferriprox (deferiprone) to include patients ages 3 and older who have blood transfusion-induced iron overload due to sickle cell disease (SCD) or other anemias. The therapy was first approved…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for a Phase 1 trial of HBI-002, Hillhurst Biopharmaceuticals‘ oral carbon monoxide treatment for sickle cell disease (SCD). The trial will assess the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (how the therapy moves through the body) of single and multiple…

People with sickle cell anemia have higher levels of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) — DNA specific to mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses — circulating in the blood than healthy individuals, likely due to the abnormal retention of mitochondria in red blood cells, a study has found. Notably, patients’ mtDNA was found to…

More than half of the people with rare diseases and their caregivers, asked in a survey, were undecided or less than willing to be vaccinated for COVID-19 if a vaccine was approved under emergency use authorization instead of the routine process, the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Disease reports. These findings…

Note: This story was updated June 16, 2021, to clarify that the HGB-207 and HGB-212 clinical trials were testing betibeglogene autotemcel, a gene therapy that uses the same viral vector as LentiGlobin.  A patient diagnosed initially with the blood cancer myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) after receiving LentiGlobin, Bluebird Bio’s investigational…