UK’s NHS to Offer Stem Cell Transplants for Thalassemia

The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) will begin funding allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants for adult patients with beta-thalassemia following new guidance from NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group. Previously, NHS only offered this type of treatment to children because of the potential risk of complications among adults.

The NHS estimates that around 600 adults across the U.K. have transfusion-dependent thalassemia – the most severe form of the disease – white around 2,281 people with thalassaemia are registered on the U.K.’s National Haemoglobinopathy. This includes 1,332 patients over the age of 18.