12/08/2023

FDA Approves Two Sickle Cell Therapies, Including First CRISPR Medicine

This is a historic action

On Friday, in a major advance, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two gene therapies that target sickle cell disease, one of which is the first commercially available treatment in the United States based on gene-editing technology. The historic move offers hope for a long-overlooked genetic illness that can cause excruciating pain and cut decades off people’s lives. It also cracks the door open for a new era in medicine.

One of the new treatments, named Casgevy, is based on CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that moved lightning-fast from a scientific breakthrough in 2012 to a therapy that can alleviate suffering. In the wake of the FDA approval, experts anticipate that treating sickle cell disease will be the first of many medical applications for this technology.

The other treatment, developed by Bluebird Bio and called Lyfgenia, uses a harmless virus to insert a gene into a patient’s stem cells. The treatments are approved for patients 12 and older who experience repeated pain episodes.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.