Sickle cell drug: Haematologists task FG on production of Hydroxyurea

Haematologists have advised the Federal Government to initiate policies that would encourage the production of `hydroxyurea’, a drug for the treatment and control of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD).
The health experts said hydroxyurea was a recommended drug used by SCD sufferers as a part of chemotherapy treatment for the diseases.
The experts, who spoke on Monday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, are Dr Peter Ogundeji and Mrs Adeyinka Falusi, both of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
They advised that the increased intake of hydroxyurea by SCD victims would help in the control and management of the disease.
Ogundeji, a resident doctor at the UCH, said that caring for SCD sufferers was becoming a big challenge, hence the choice for hydroxyurea to improve their wellbeing.
He said that hydroxyurea had become one of the recommended drugs for the treatment of SCD.
He said “as part of the ongoing researches to alleviate the suffering of people living with SCD, one thing that has become common practice all over the world is the use of a drug called hydroxyurea.
“It helps to reduce the episodes of acute chest syndrome; number of painful crisis and its intensity,” he said.
According to him, hydroxyurea has also been known to reduce the incidence of mortality; number of blood transfusion and hospital stay-period of sickle cell patients.
“It also reduces such complications like stroke which occurs, especially in children with SCD,’’ he said.
Falusi, a professor of haematology at UCH, said that while hydroxyurea was a major advancement in SCD treatment, she however, warned that its use in patients must be closely monitored.
Falusi, who is also the President, Sickle Cell Hope Alive Foundation (SCHAF), said that while the benefits of the drug were long lasting, “not all patients would respond to it.
“The drug works by increasing the production of the fetal haemoglobin (HbF) in the blood and the higher the haemoglobin is in SCD patients, the better their lives become.
“HbF, which is the baby haemoglobin, does not deform like the sickle haemoglobin (HbS), which is the hallmark of SCD,” she said.
According to her, hydroxyurea should not be administered until the amount of HbF in the patient had been determined.
“Some patients with SCD have exceptionally high levels of HbF and this is associated with the Asian and Mediterranean haplotypes.
“This is why they look healthier and you may not recognise one just by merely seeing them,” she said.
Falusi, therefore, appealed to the federal government for increased funding to take care of the research and production of the drug within the shores of the country.
“We need to put in the appropriate mechanism for us to successfully integrate this drug into our sickle cell management programme.
“For us to provide maximal care for them, the hospitals where the drug will be administered need a proper documentation process.
“We need the government to put this disease in the front burner, because these SCD patients are our people and we need to take care of our own,” she said.