Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie
In the wake of a major breakthrough in the treatment of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) with the approval of Crizanlizumab by the National Health Service (NHS), in England, Arise News Channel has made contact with Nigeria’s Minister of Health over the global media platform’s desire to facilitate the availability of the new drug in Nigeria.
However, Arise News has explained that it would work to seek the approval of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on its intervention.
The sister broadcast arm of THISDAY newspapers, announced the move yesterday during ‘The Morning Show’ on ARISE NEWS Channel.
Arise News Channel said the initiative was expected to save lives of sickle cell carriers.
The Director, Health Inequalities, NHS England and NHS Improvement, Dr. Bola Owolabi, who was a guest on the show expressed excitement about the groundbreaking research, stating that she was impressed that the NHS in England had secured a deal to make the life-changing revolutionary treatment available for up to 5,000 patients over the next three years.
She further explained how the drugs works by binding to the proteins on the red blood cells, which tend to clump together, causing a degree of blockage within the arteries, and it’s that blockage that then limits the blood supply and oxygen supply, which causes profound and excruciating pain to such people.
“By having access to this drug, people will have an improved quality of life. We know that the rates of hospital attendance to accidental emergency will be reduced by 40 per cent, due to the availability of this drug.
“We have 10 specialist centres that are ready to go. We have 23 expert teams that will be available 24 hours a day, to be able to support people. So this really is a great day for millions of people around the world, but in particular, our patients and our public in England, who will now have the benefit of this revolutionary treatment that aims to improve their quality of lives, and reduce the frequency of these horrendously painful crisis episodes,” she said.
Owolabi also made some clarifications that it was not a drug trial as trials have been concluded, rigorously tested, assessed, proven to be safe and effective.
According to her, “It’s going to cut accident and emergency attendance by up to 40 per cent which we are seeing from the trial data. The National Health Service has worked incredibly hard with the pharmaceutical industry to secure access to this medication and I am sure that health leaders and services around the world will be able to have similar conversations as well.”
Discussing legislative issues around the pending Sickle Cell Prevention Bill, which had been proposed to Nigeria’s Senate,
the Chairman, Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, Prof. Olu Akinyanju, said the Bill never went through and it was impossible to prevent people from getting married to each other regardless of their respective genotypes.
He called on the federal government to assist with the funding for research and also making money available for people who can’t afford some of the drugs that could ease the pain and reduce frequent hospital visits.
The drug, Crizanlizumab, made by Novartis, is injected into a vein and can be taken on its own or alongside standard treatment and regular blood transfusions.
And in a trial, patients taking the crizanlizumab had a sickle-cell crisis 1.6 times a year on average, compared with nearly three times a year normally.
The NHS had described the development as revolutionary.
People with SCD endure severe pain during the ‘sickle cell crisis’ that can occur multiple times per year, often requiring hospital admission so they can be given morphine to control the pain and prevent organ failure which can be fatal.
Announcing the new treatment, NHS’ chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, had said the drug deal would help as many as 5,000 people over the next three years to have a much better quality of life.
Nigeria has an estimated 25 per cent of its adult population being carriers of defective S-gene. SCD is a genetic (hereditary) disorder that occurs when an individual has inherited two mutant (abnormal) haemoglobin (Hb) genes from both parents, at least one of which is HbS and the resulting symptoms and signs are due to abnormality in the shape of red blood cells.
Ehanire recently disclosed that available record showed that SCD affects nearly 100 million people in the world and was also responsible for over 50 per cent of deaths in those with the most severe form of the disease (Hb SS).
He had said sickle cell was the most prevalent genetic disease in Africa, adding that in many countries in the country, including Nigeria, 10 to 40 per cent of the population carry the sickle-cell gene resulting in estimated SCD prevalence of at least two per cent.
He had estimated that 150,000 affected children are born every year in Nigeria.
“Nigeria currently has the highest burden of Sickle Cell Disease in the whole World ahead of Democratic Republic of Congo and India, with an estimated 25 per cent of her adult population being carriers of defective S-gene.
“WHO in 2015 estimated that two per cent of new-borns in Nigeria are affected by sickle cell anaemia, giving a total of about 150,000 affected children born every year. About 50 per cent–80 per cent of the estimated 150,000 infants born yearly with SCD in Nigeria die before the age of five years and those that manage to survive suffer end-organs damage which shortens their lifespan including stroke,” Ehanire had said.
