Sickle cell disease was first brought to light in America around 1910. The first recorded patient was a young medical student of African descent from Grenada named Walter Clement Noel.
It was not until 40 years later that it was determined that sickle cell disease (SCD) was due to a hereditary phenomenon affecting the haemoglobin chains in the red blood cells.
There have been few treatment modalities ever since. The only pharmacological treatment for SCD has been hydroxyurea till the second decade of the 21st century.
Even then, its use had started in 1995 but as a repurposed drug.
