A Phase II, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Regadenoson in Sickle Cell Anemia

This research study is a Phase II clinical trial, which tests the safety and effectiveness of an investigational drug called Regadenoson (or Lexiscan) to learn whether the drug works in treating a specific disease, in this case Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Investigational means that the drug is being studied. It also means that the FDA has not yet approved the drug for your type of disease. SCD is an inherited blood disorder that causes the red blood cells to change their shape from a round shape to a half-moon/crescent or sickled shape. People who have SCD have a different type of protein that carries oxygen in their blood (hemoglobin) than people without SCD. This different type of hemoglobin makes the red blood cells change into crescent shape under certain conditions. Sickle-shaped cells are a problem because they often get stuck in the blood vessels blocking the flow of blood, and cause inflammation and injury to important areas in the body. Regadenoson (trade name Lexiscan) is a drug that may prevent this inflammation and injury caused by the sickle shaped cells. This drug is approved by the FDA to be used as a fast infusion during a heart stress test in people who are unable to exercise enough to put stress on their heart by making the heart beat faster. Regadenoson has been studied as a long infusion at this dose in adults, and no safety issues have been identified (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01085201). This is the first study to look at patient benefit with the long infusion of the drug. This drug has been used in laboratory experiments and information from those other research studies suggests that this drug may help to protect the body from damage caused by sickle-shaped cells in this research study. In this research study, the investigators are specifically looking to see if Regadenoson is an effective treatment for pain crises and acute chest syndrome in SCD.