Posted by Michael Wonder on 18 Aug 2020
Adding sickle cell disease to FDA’s priority review voucher list of neglected tropical diseases
18 July 2020 - On 16 July, Putting Rare Diseases Patients First! filed a citizen’s petition to add sickle cell disease to the FDA’s priority review voucher list of neglected tropical diseases.
Dr. Lorna Speid, founder and president of the non-profit that supports patients with rare and neglected diseases, says her organisation took the action because sickle cell disease is the only tropical disease that afflicts a majority African American population in the U.S.
Priority review vouchers for neglected tropical diseases are aimed to incentivise pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs and vaccines for such diseases. Priority reviews of new drug applications take six months to complete, rather than the standard review period of 10 months.
