Gene therapies for sickle cell disease approved in U.S.
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on December 8, 2023
A patient wears a sickle cell warrior bracelet in 2019. File photo by Stacey Wescott/ Chicago Tribune/ Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Regulators on Friday approved two new gene therapies for sickle cell disease that doctors hope can cure the painful, inherited blood disorder that afflicts mostly Black people in the United States.
The Food and Drug Administration said the one-time treatments can be used for patients 12 and older with severe forms of the disease. One, made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, is the first approved therapy . . .
