Editorial & Advertiser disclosure

Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.

Headlines

Posted By Global Banking and Finance Review

Posted on January 31, 2025

UK health system to offer cutting-edge gene therapy for sickle cell disease

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's National Health Service (NHS) will provide a cutting-edge gene therapy that aims to cure sickle cell disease, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said on Friday.

The therapy from Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics will cost the state-funded healthcare system around 1.65 million pounds ($2.1 million) per course.

Britain's MHRA medical regulator in 2023 became the first in the world to approve the therapy, which uses the gene-editing tool CRISPR.

NICE, which assesses whether new medical technologies can be used in the NHS, said the treatment would be suitable for around 50 patients per year.

Sickle cell disease is a serious and lifelong condition caused by errors in the genes for haemoglobin, which is used by red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body.

The therapy involves taking stem cells out of a patient's bone marrow and editing a gene in the cells in a laboratory and then infusing them back into the patient.

The same technology was approved for use in the NHS in August to treat beta thalassemia, another rare blood disorder.

($1 = 0.8039 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti, Editing by William James and Sachin Ravikumar)

Recommended for you

  • The stark divide that South Africa's land act seeks to bridge

  • 'No thanks', white South Africans turn down Trump's immigration offer

  • Baltic states switch to European power grid, ending Russia ties