This Week in Sickle cell news August 3rd to the 8th

By Sean Marshall
Good news out of New York. An article featured in The Vancouver Sun and the with help from the Associated Press explained that the Irish drug making company Shire is offering to buy Baxalta, another drug company, in an attempt to strengthen its own potion in rare disease treatments.

This way just sound like another merger but both companies pessimally Baxalta have gone on record as supporters of a cure to sickle cell anemia.  It was explained that “earlier this year, Shire said it would pay $5.2 billion to acquire NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., which specializes in drugs for rare conditions.”

Also for those who want more information on Baxalta, it is a Deerfield, Illinois company that spun off by Baxter International Inc. In the article it was pointed out that “in July of this year to put special attention on bleeding disorders.”

However it has been reported that “drug makers expect the medicines to be lucrative for them. For those recently approved, they've been asking sky-high prices: $100,000 up to nearly a half-million dollars for a year or a course of treatment.” This means that if the company does in fact cure sickle cell anemia it will be very difficult for many people to obtain it. In a ray of hope however insurance companies can have some success getting discounts. At least in theory.

The original article can be found here: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Shire+offers+Baxter+drug+spinoff+move+boost+rare+disease/11264372/story.html
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