Pfizer pulls sickle cell drug

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is pulling its small-molecule drug for mild-to- moderate symptoms of sickle cell anemia, which had been granted accelerated approval. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) raised concerns in July after deaths of participants in the follow-up clinical trials of Oxbryta. The EMA scheduled a meeting last month to discuss “emerging data” about the drug, but Pfizer decided to pull the drug in all markets before that meeting took place.