What the trial was testing
The HGB-205 enrolled 7 patients with thalassemia. The study was sponsored by Genetix Biotherapeutics Inc. and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was an early-stage trial — researchers are still confirming safety and getting an early look at how well the treatment works. Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
The patient had no sickle cell crises for 15 months after gene therapy treatment.
The New England journal of medicine · 2017 · NCT02151526
These findings — that the new gene made up half the patient's hemoglobin and stopped sickle cell crises — were published in the The New England journal of medicine and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 7 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with thalassemia, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
This was an early-stage study testing gene therapy in one patient with sickle cell disease. The treatment showed promise but was not yet FDA-approved at the time. A related gene therapy called Lyfgenia is now FDA-approved for sickle cell disease. Ask your doctor about approved gene therapies and whether you might be eligible.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open thalassemia trials
European Rare Blood Disorders Platform (ENROL)
ENROL, the European Rare Blood Disorders Platform has been conceived in the core of ERN-EuroBloodNet as an umbrella for both new and already existing registries on Rare Hematological Diseases (RHDs). ENROL aims at avoiding fragmentation of data by promoting the standards for patient registries' interoperability released by the EU RD platform. ENROL's principle is to maximize public benefit from data on RHDs opened up through the platform with the only restriction needed to guarantee patient rights and confidentiality, in agreement with EU regulations for cross-border sharing of personal data. Accordingly, ENROL will map the EU-level demographics, survival rates, diagnosis methods, genetic information, main clinical manifestations, and treatments in order to obtain epidemiological figures and identify trial cohorts for basic and clinical research. To this aim, ENROL will connect and facilitate the upgrading of existing RHD registries, while promoting the building of new ones when / where lacking. Target-driven actions will be carried out in collaboration with EURORDIS for educating patients and families about the benefits of enrolment in such registries, including different cultural and linguistic strategies. The standardized collection and monitoring of disease-specific healthcare outcomes through the ENROL user-friendly platform will determine how specialized care is delivered, where are the gaps in diagnosis, care, or treatment and where best to allocate financial, technical, or human resources. Moreover, it will allow for promoting research, especially for those issues that remain unanswered or sub-optimally addressed by the scientific community; furthermore, it will allow promoting clinical trials for new drugs. ENROL will enable the generation of evidence for better healthcare for RHD patients in the EU as the ultimate goal. ENROL officially started on 1st June 2020 with a duration of 36 months. ENROL is co-funded by the Health Programme of the European Union under the call for proposals HP-PJ-2019 on Rare disease registries for the European Reference Networks. GA number 947670
A Study to Investigate the Efficacy, Pharmacokinetics, and Safety of Mitapivat in Pediatric Participants With Transfusion-Dependent Alpha- or Beta-Thalassemia (α- or β-TDT)
The primary objective of this study is to compare the effect of mitapivat versus placebo on transfusion burden in pediatric participants with α- or β-transfusion-dependent thalassemia.