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Good morning. Today Megan Molteni tells us how infertility worries will likely temper sickle cell patients’ embrace of new gene therapies.
New gene therapies for sickle cell disease come with an impossible choice: a cure or fertility
For people with sickle cell disease, a chance at freedom from a debilitating genetic disease can mean giving up the chance to have biological children without assistance from reproductive technology. A new genetic therapy, called Casgevy and likely to be approved by the FDA this week, deploys CRISPR to edit the DNA of blood-forming cells so they no longer twist into a sickle shape and wreak havoc, inflicting extreme pain and damaging organs. Most of the 100,000 or so Americans with sickle cell are Black; they have endured a severe shortage of qualified disease specialists and insensitive care in emergency rooms and urgent care settings.
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