Treatment for painful episodes of blood vessel obstruction in sickle cell anemia is currently limited to controlling pain, but an investigational therapy might be able to interfere with the underlying cause of these events, known as vaso-occlusion crises.
Marilyn Telen, MD, Wellcome Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology, led a small, multicenter patient study that found patients who received an investigational drug had quicker resolution of the pain episode, although the difference compared to a control group did not rise to statistical significance.