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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent

‘Groundbreaking’ sickle cell disease treatment approved for NHS use in England

An illustration of sickle cells in the blood stream
Sickle cell disease changes the shape of blood cells into crescents, hindering blood flow. Photograph: Artur Plawgo/Science Photo Library/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF

A “groundbreaking” £1.65m treatment offering a potential cure for people in England living with sickle cell disease has been approved for use on the NHS, the medicines watchdog has announced.

Campaigners welcomed news of the approval of the one-time gene therapy, known as exagamglogene autotemcel, or exa-cel, which edits the faulty gene in a patient’s own stem cells.

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