CRISPR-based gene therapy has the potential to give sickle cell patients a new lease on life

For years, sickle cell disease meant pain, hospital visits, and limits on the future for Metairie’s Daniel Cressy, including his dream of becoming a commercial pilot. But after becoming Louisiana’s first sickle cell patient treated with CRISPR-based gene therapy, Manning Family Children’s says he is now functionally cured and beginning what he calls “Life 2.” Newell talks with Dr. Benjamin K. Watkins, a nationally recognized pediatric hematologist oncologist at Manning Family Children's Hospital, about the science behind this historic treatment, the long road patients face, and whether gene therapy could change the future of sickle cell care in Louisiana.