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In 1972, the 92nd US Congress passed the National Sickle Cell Anemia
Control Act, which called for grant support for screening programs. In 1975, the
first US State began a newborn screening program for SCD. However, there has
been only one drug, Hydroxyurea (HU), which has come to the marketplace since
that time, out of approximately 2,000 screened candidates with over $1 billion
in research funding.
According to a study published by Allison Ashley-Koch, Quanhe Yang, and
Richard S. Olney of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC" , SCD
is a major public health concern (Ashley-Koch, A. et al, Am. J. Epidemiol 151,
839, 2000). Each year in the US, an average of 75,000 hospitalizations are due
to SCD, costing approximately $475 million. The average length of per hospital
visit was 6.1 days and adults tended to have longer stays than children and
adolescents. SCD is also associated with significant mortality. Among children,
the primary causes of mortality are bacterial infections and stroke. This
genetic disorder has great impact on both the individual and society.
In the United States of America, Hydroxyurea is the only
drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of
SCD. It is very expensive and toxic and patients treated with hydroxyurea
exhibit severe side effects.
VIDEONEWS: 
http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/25/114120.htm
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