© 2024 KGOU
News and Music for Oklahoma
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Why You Don't Hear Much About Sickle Cell Anymore

How would the construction of a wall affect U.S.-Mexico relations, immigration and border security?
How would the construction of a wall affect U.S.-Mexico relations, immigration and border security?

About 100,000 Americans have sickle cell disease (formerly known as sickle cell anemia). Most of them are black. And many of them have faced challenges from the health care industry in getting their condition addressed.

Sickle cell disease can cause chronic pain, multi-organ failure and even lead to strokes. Kaiser Health News reports that patients and their families say the search for treatments is “slow, underfunded, ineffective or too limited in scope.”

In summer of 2017, the FDA approved a new sickle cell drug — the first in two decades — making it just the second option on the market for patients. It recently hit pharmacy shelves, but insurers have backed away from covering it, leaving the average monthly cost of $3300 up to patients to pay.

Why is the road for sufferers of this chronic condition so fraught with obstacles? And how does it compare to the way the government, researchers and the medical community handle more mainstream blood disorders?

GUESTS

Jenny Gold, Senior correspondent, Kaiser Health News

Dr. Sophie Lanzkron, Associate professor of medicine and director of the Sickle Cell Center for Adults, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Efa Ahmed-Williams, Founder of Destiny Despite Diagnosis; a sickle cell patient and advocate

Marqus Valentine, Diagnosed with sickle cell disease when he was a small child, he is an advocate and co-founder of Sick Cells

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

© 2018 WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio.

Copyright 2018 WAMU 88.5

More News
Support nonprofit, public service journalism you trust. Give now.