Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Awards Grant to Critical Path Institute to Advance Therapies for Sickle Cell Disease
In a continuing effort to spur advancements in treating and curing sickle cell anemia, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation today announced a grant to the Critical Path Institute (C-Path) to lay the groundwork for forming a collaboration of multiple stakeholder organizations to accelerate the development of therapies for the disease. With the funding, C-Path will conduct the planning necessary to bring together scientists, clinicians and representatives from the biopharmaceutical industry, governmental regulatory agencies, academic institutions and patient advocacy organizations to identify and work collaboratively toward solving significant challenges affecting the entire research and development community. The anticipated outcome is a consortium model engaging potential partners to work on jointly beneficial drug development tools and novel methodologies, submit them to the regulatory agencies for endorsement, and then make them available to the broader research community.
This announcement coincides with National Sickle Cell Awareness Month, which began in September 1983 to foster public awareness about the genetic disease. Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States, affecting an estimated 90,000 to 100,000 Americans, according to researchers. Those with the disease often suffer from chronic pain and crippling side effects beginning as early as childhood and, in severe cases, face a reduction in life expectancy of 20 to 30 years compared to those without the disease.