Novel therapy helps sickle cell patients

A low-cost, non-invasive treatment for patients suffering from sickle cell disease is being developed by researchers.

Dr Yutaka Niihara, lead investigator at The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) and co-founder of Emmaus Medical Inc, is looking to ease the chronic, incapacitating pain and likely organ failure that sickle cell sufferers face.

Investigations conducted by the doctor and his team, have found that L-glutamine, when utilised in powder form and added to liquid, can help relieve numerous painful symptoms related to sickle cell.

L-glutamine is the commonest free-form amino acid in the body. In its powder form it assists in the reduction of oxidation in red blood cells.

An inherited disease, sickle cell causes red blood cells to become sticky, oxidised and crescent or sickle-shaped instead of round, smooth and flexible.

It can lead to organ damage, chronic and acute pain, anemia and many other issues.

"As a physician, I have seen firsthand the severe pain suffered by patients with sickle cell disease. We are pleased to have reached this stage in our development of this potential treatment, and hope to bring relief to the millions of people suffering from this disorder," said the expert.

There are around 80 medications that have entered into clinical trials to tackle sickle cell, however this is only one of three that have been accepted into the final phase. If this passes, it will then need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, after which it can be distributed to patients.

An estimated three million people carry the sickle cell trait with 100,000 living with disease in the US alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Current treatments such as bone marrow transplants, pain medication and hydration are either too expensive, are not available freely available or aren't well tolerated.

Posted by Ben Evans