FAQ

• Aren't patents very expensive?

  Yes, patent costs are much greater than they used to be; and many good ideas may not make it to clinical trials because of this obstacle. We are asking your help to pay these and other costs so that our cure for sickle cell will not be one of those advances that dies, rather than becoming available to those who need it.

• Does SCCF's cure require gene therapy?

  No. We call our approach to curing sickle cell gene regulation therapy, and the result is called a phenotypic cure. That is to say that no genes are permanently altered; instead, we use normal bodily signals to turn off the sickle cell and activate another gene with the same function in its place.

• How may I donate to the SCCF's effort?

  Donations (as personal checks) may be sent to:
  
  The Sickle Cell Cure Foundation, Inc.
  212 ½ NW 20th Street
  Oklahoma City, OK 73103

  There is also a button at the bottom-left of SCCF's webpage that allows donations to be made by credit- or debit-card through PayPal. More information may be found at the SCCF website http://www.sicklecellcurefoundation.org or by telephoning (405) 922-5774. The SCCF tries to respond to all requests within 72 hours (3 days) or less.

• Is SCCF recognized as a legitimate agency?

  Yes, The Sickle Cell Cure Foundation, Inc. (SCCF) has a federal tax I.d. number, is registered in the State of Oklahoma as a Nonprofit Corporation, and has received 501(C(3) status from the IRS. Thus, all donations are tax-deductible. All donors receive a receipt within three weeks that can be used for tax purposes.

• Is your cure patented?

  Yes, patents have been granted to us and issued in the European Union (10 EU countries) and Australia; our patent application in Canada and our U.S. patent are still under review. (The U.S. Patent Office has a huge backlog, and they are more than three years behind.)

• What do you call your "cure"?

  Our patents fall under the title for the first one that we submitted: "Gene Regulation Therapy Involving Ferritin."

• What other costs are associated with carrying out this global plan for treating SCD and related diseases?

  The next cost hurdle is for further experiments to show that our cure is safe in animals and, in the same experiments, show that our ways of delivering the cure (as an injection or as a pill) will work in animals. This is also an expensive step on the way to clinical application. But it is an essential step before clinical trials in humans can be started.

• Why are patents necessary?

  Patents are necessary to give a pharmaceutical company an exclusive license; otherwise, they will not invest in clinical trials and further developments necessary to bring a treatment to market and, therefore, to clinics to treat patients. Thus, we need to get over this "cost" hurdle to get our treatment to the bedside.

  However, we are also considering partnerships with other globally active non-profits as a means of funding the world-wide distribution of our cure for SCD. In this case, patents may still be required in some countries, depending on how manufacuring and distribution of the medicine is handled.

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