GBT Awards $200K in ACCEL Grants to Improve SCD Healthcare Delivery

Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) announced the five organizations that will receive more than $200,000 worth of grants through its new Access to Excellent Care for Sickle Cell Patients Pilot Program (ACCEL).

ACCEL was launched in February by the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with the goal of improving the delivery of high-quality healthcare to people living with sickle cell disease (SCD).

“We created the ACCEL program to help address the significant challenges that people living with SCD face every day in accessing quality healthcare in their communities,” Jung E. Choi, chief business and strategy officer at GBT, said in a press release. “One solution to addressing these inequities is to encourage non-profit organizations to develop innovative programs that can ensure more children and adults living with SCD get access to high-quality care.”

The proposals were submitted by non-profit organizations in the U.S., and were reviewed by a panel at GBT and by external parties with expertise in SCD. The proposals were evaluated based on their strength, how innovative they were, and their potential to have a high impact on patient care.

The five selected organizations, and their specific SCD programs, are:

• Center for Inherited Blood Disorders (CIBD) and Sickle Cell Disease Foundation (SCDF) for “Strengthening Access to Sickle Cell Care in Southern California (Project SAS-SC)”
• James R. Clark Memorial Sickle Cell Foundation for “Project LEAP Expansion”
• The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for “Optimizing Sickle Cell Disease Training through an Advanced Practice Provider Residency”
• The MAVEN Project (Medical Alumni Volunteer Expert Network) for “Advancing Sickle Cell Disease Treatment in the Primary Care Setting”
• Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia for “Sickle Cell Disease for Non-Specialty Healthcare Providers”

“ACCEL is important for people living with sickle cell disease because it will speed the development of innovative and practical programs. Such programs are created by medical professionals and community-based organizations who work with these patients and their families every day,” said Lewis Hsu, MD, a member of the review panel, and professor of pediatrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “We selected the grant recipients because of our confidence in their ability to significantly improve the lives of adults and children with SCD by helping them access consistent, quality healthcare.”