(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it approved a drug from Global Blood Therapeutics Inc to treat sickle cell disease in adults and children 12 years or older.
The treatment will be priced at $10,417 per month, or around $125,000 per year, and will be sold under the brand name Oxbryta. It is the second drug in recent days to win U.S. approval for sickle cell anemia, and the first to target the underlying cause of the disease rather than symptoms.
Last week Novartis AG’s Adakveo won U.S. regulatory clearance to reduce the incidence of sickle cell-related pain crises, a common and debilitating symptom of the disease.
“Today’s approval provides additional hope to the 100,000 people in the U.S., and the more than 20 million globally, who live with this debilitating blood disorder,” the FDA said in a statement.
GBT’s drug, known chemically as voxelotor, works by preventing red blood cells from sickling, a deformation that restricts flow of oxygen…
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