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We finally have new drugs for sickle cell disease. Why are so few patients taking them?

  • Jason Mast

By Jason Mast

Dec. 19, 2022

Lena Harvey outside her home in Indianapolis, Ind. Harvey is a sickle cell patient who started taking Oxbryta in February 2021. It markedly alleviated her pain and fatigue, allowing her to begin living her life more fully and advocate for others. Lee Klafczynski for STAT

Related: Companies and researchers are finally pouring resources into a search for better sickle-cell treatments.  

At first, Lena Harvey didn’t realize anything had changed. She just started doing strange, unexpected things: Cleaning her living room, for example, or playing with her puppy, a black schnauzer named Apollo.

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It hit her as she walked in from the patio one day. She looked at her husband, Anthony, and asked, “Honey, I haven’t been complaining about pain, have I?”

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About the Author

Jason Mast

Jason Mast

General Assignment Reporter

Jason Mast is a general assignment reporter at STAT focused on the science behind new medicines and the systems and people that decide whether that science ever reaches patients.

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