Leveraging science, business to treat sickle cell

GBT CEO Ted Love says racial prejudice created obstacles that science, investment are overcoming

Ted Love, president and CEO of Global Blood Therapeutics, believes that racial prejudice has slowed the development of treatments for sickle cell disease — and that GBT’s scientific and commercial success will stimulate investment in new therapies.

In an interview marking sickle cell awareness month, The BioCentury Show asked Love why it has taken so long to create effective therapies for a condition that was first identified 110 years ago. “Many of us think that it’s because these patients are Black and Brown,” he replied. “We put a lot less money into understanding this disease than we have, for example, compared to cystic fibrosis and other diseases which predominantly occur in the White population. We’ve seen that lack of investment at the NIH level. We’ve seen it at the industry level. We’ve seen it all around.”

Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:GBT) was launched in 2012 with a $50 million investment from Third Rock Ventures and Love was named CEO in 2014. GBT paved the way for the accelerated approval by gaining FDA buy-in on a surrogate marker for sickle cell. FDA approved the first drug in the company’s sickle cell pipeline, Oxbryta voxelotor, in November 2019.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) agreed to purchase GBT in August for $5.4 billion. Pfizer has committed to make Oxbryta available in low-income countries with large numbers of sickle cell patients.

The scientific certainty that flows from a surrogate marker and the confidence in the commercial opportunity embodied in Pfizer’s acquisition will lead to the development of more drugs for sickle cell, Love said. “When you have the success of a company like GBT, resulting in the acquisition by Pfizer for a very significant amount of money, that tells people that you can create a very valuable business by using quality science to help these patients.”

Love, who is slated to become chairman of BIO next year, also discussed the biotech industry’s disappointment with the Inflation Reduction Act and ways the law could stifle biomedical innovation, as well as his conviction that industry leaders have a responsibility to take public positions on social and political issues that aren’t directly linked to their companies’ activities.