dr cece calhoun, thank ou limiting disorders. dr cece calhoun, thank you so — limiting disorders.nk you so much for— limiting disorders. dr cece calhoun, thank you so much forjoining - limiting disorders. dr cece calhoun, thank you so much forjoining us - limiting disorders. dr cece calhoun, thank you so much forjoining us on | thank you so much forjoining us on newsday today. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines for you. the venezuelan leader, nicolas maduro, has ordered military exercises by the venezuelan armed forces around an oil—rich disputed region with guyana, after a british warship was deployed to the guyanese coast. president maduro accused london of breaking the spirit of an agreement with guyana to avoid military operations and ordered his defence chiefs to carry out operations in the region. nikki haley — one of the contenders for the republican presidential nomination — has sought to downplay comments in which she seemed to reject slavery as the cause of the american civil war. at a town hall meeting, ms haley said that the conflict had been abou

yale medical school assistant professor cece calhoun specializes in caring for people with the diseasece calhoun: when i talk to patients, especially young adults who have sickle cell disease, they often tell me it's a silent disease. i feel unseen. people cannot tell what i am going through and what i'm trying to navigate. in part, what this represents is awarenessnd seeing that sickle cell israel starting to , understand the way it affects -- sickle cell is real starting , to understand the way it affects people's ability to live life every day. john: this is the first u.s.-approved medicine for a genetic disease that uses the ground-breaking gene-editing tool called crispr. gina kolata is a new york times reporter who focuses on science and medicine. how big of a deal for this? gina: it is a big deal for the people who have it. it offers them hope. there really was not much help before this as a cure. most people will probably not get it. it is expensive. not everyone will be eligible. you can see something on the horizon that maybe could make a difference, change your life. for cri

i spoke to dr cece calhoun, who's medical director of the sickle cell programme at yale university schoolmentioned, the global burden of sickle cell disease is tremendous, and so what this means for us is a new frontier and opportunity to cure a disease with such a shortened life expectancy. but the expense of this treatment, reportedly some $2 million, it will put it out of reach for many people. how hopeful are you that the price will eventually come down? sickle cell disease has been known, and the mechanism behind sickle cell disease has been known, for over a century, yet the treatment options for sickle cell disease have been quite limited, and so what this represents is a new frontier in that area. this is a first step, but to your point, it's quite expensive, and so the next step is, how do we improve accessibility and decrease costs so that we can offer this notjust in developed countries but also worldwide, where we know sickle cell is most prevalent? i think with any new drug, initial uptake is slow and costs are high, but i am so optimistic that this drug will be made more acc