The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Sidra Medicine, a specialty health care organization that provides hematology and oncology care for women, children, and young people, to establish the first pediatric bone marrow transplant (BMT) program in Qatar, according to a press release by CHOP.
Through this collaboration, CHOP’s cellular therapy and transplant section will provide an education plan for Sidra Medicine’s clinical staff and assess its readiness to begin treating pediatric patients.
Sidra Medicine’s BMT program will treat patients with blood disorders and malignancies, such as sickle cell disease (SCD), thalassemia, leukemia, lymphoma, and solid tumors, as well as patients with primary immune deficiencies, metabolic diseases, and genetic and autoimmune disorders.
“It is truly a milestone to launch Qatar’s first pediatric BMT program,” Ahmed Al Hammadi, MBCHB, Acting Chief Medical Officer and Executive Chair of Pediatrics at Sidra Medicine, said in the press release. “We are delighted to partner with a world-class institution like CHOP to provide our patients with the most advanced and effective treatment options.”
CHOP’s BMT program has been treating pediatric patients since 1976.
“CHOP is dedicated to improving health outcomes for children across the world,” Ruth Frey, Vice President of Global Strategy and Business Development at CHOP, said in the press release. “We are thrilled about this collaboration and the opportunity to offer CHOP’s BMT expertise to support Sidra Medicine’s launch of the first-ever pediatric BMT program in Qatar.”
The collaboration will also explore clinical research initiatives in cell and gene therapies to treat SCD, beta thalassemia, and adrenoleukodystrophy. Experts at CHOP have previously developed two cell and gene therapies approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, exagamglogene autotemcel and lovotibeglogene autotemcel.
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