Pfizer and African American Newspaper Group Collaborate to Raise Awareness about Sickle Cell Disease

Rare Daily Staff

Pfizer and the National Newspaper Publishers Association are collaborating to raise awareness of sickle cell disease, a debilitating genetic disorder that affects red blood cells.

The drugmaker will work with the trade association of more than 200 African-American-owned community newspapers around the United States to raise awareness about the disease that disproportionately affects African Americans. The first initiative under the collaboration will be a national poll, conducted in partnership with Howard University’s Interdisciplinary Research Team in Washington, D.C.

Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States, affecting nearly 100,000 Americans. Although it affects many different ethnic groups, the majority of people with sickle cell disease are of African descent. In the United States, sickle cell disease occurs in approximately 1 out of every 365 African-American births.

In addition to raising awareness, the collaboration will educate people about the challenges of living with the disease and the importance of clinical trial participation in helping researchers develop potential new treatments. In a review of 174 sickle cell disease trials, difficulty enrolling patients was the stated cause in nearly half of the 30 percent of the trials that were terminated early.

September 29, 2017