22 October 2021 (Friday) - ASH Update

The nice people at ASH sent the latest developments in treating patients with sickle cells disease. Given the choice I’d rather have had something a little more technical and a little less clinical, but it was useful stuff nonetheless… 

Crizanlizumab Approved for SCD in the U.K. For the first time in 20 years, a new therapy will be made available through the National Health Service via a managed access agreement for the treatment of patients with SCD.

Conserving Red Blood Cell Units in the Treatment of Patients With SCD During Blood Shortages Obtaining pretransfusion hemoglobin S values prior to red cell exchange (RCE) and increasing the RCE end hematocrit above the pretransfusion level led to an 18% reduction in transfused RBC units in patients with SCD who underwent chronic RCE during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Voxelotor Granted Priority Review for Children With SCD Global Blood Therapeutics submitted applications for accelerated approval of voxelotor for the treatment of patients with SCD ages 4 to 11 and for a new dispersible tablet dosage form of the drug.