Note: This story was updated July 7, 2021, to clarify that Hertz Nazaire lived with his godmother, rather than his grandmother, after his mother’s death. A Connecticut-based artist living with sickle cell disease and blindness in his right eye is using his art to advocate for…
Velvet Brown-Watts was devastated when her son, Jeremiah Watts Jr., now 16, was diagnosed with sickle cell disease in 2004 at 2 months old. “It was probably one of the worst things I ever heard,” Brown-Watts, 46, told Sickle Cell Disease News. Doctors at…
At its first virtual investor event, biotech company Centogene set a bold mission: to cure 100 rare diseases within the next decade. A leader in the field of genetic diagnostics, Centogene used the June 22 event to present its strategic priorities, outlining its plans to speed the discovery…
To improve life for people with sickle cell disease (SCD), Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) has awarded grants worth $50,000 each to nine community-based, nonprofit groups and institutions across the U.S. to speed the development and use of sustainable, access-to-care programs. These one-year grants are part of GBT’s Access to…
Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) is currently focused on expanding the use of Oxbryta (voxelotor) to children, ages 4–11, with sickle cell disease (SCD). But research into its use with younger children, as well as studies into other potential SCD therapies, are also underway. “Sickle cell disease patients of all ages worldwide…
To help patient advocacy leaders and their partners better understand how global health statistics codes — known as ICD codes — are assigned, updated, and revised in the U.S. health information system, the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases is presenting a first-of-its-kind resource guide. The foundation created the…
Bluebird Bio is set to resume trials of LentiGlobin, its investigational gene therapy for sickle cell disease, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted its clinical hold. The company is now working closely with study investigators and clinical trial sites to resume normal activities as soon…
In children with sickle cell disease (SCD), ages 4–11, weight-based doses of Oxbryta (voxelotor) result in similar rises in hemoglobin levels and reductions in red blood cell destruction (hemolysis) to those observed in older patients at the approved dose, six-month data from the ongoing Phase 2 HOPE-KIDS 1…
Those who wish to gain practical tools for living optimally with rare diseases are encouraged to attend the annual Living Rare Living Stronger Patient and Family Forum, hosted by the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) and set this year for June 26-27. The conference brings together patients,…
A Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) designation has been granted to Oxbryta (voxelotor), a treatment to reduce the destruction of red blood cells in people, 12 and older, with sickle cell disease (SCD). The designation, given to promising therapies that are likely to provide major benefit to patients, follows…
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