Jennifer Matthews: Sunshine, a soft breeze and a book, just what the doctor ordered for college student Sylvonna Cooper.

Sylvonna Cooper: I stay in school a lot because my school environment is very low stress.

Jennifer Matthews: Sylvonna needs to avoid stress because it brings on excruciating pain. She has sickle cell disease, a hereditary, chronic blood disorder.

Zahida Yasin: Blood transfusions are the mainstay of treatment in sickle cell disease.
Jennifer Matthews: Dr. Zahida Yasin says the problem with transfusions is iron overload, which can damage multiple organs like the liver, the heart, the lungs, and the kidneys.

Zahida Yasin: There should be an effective means of removing this excess iron, and we don't have a very good drug to do this.

Jennifer Matthews: Now this drug is being studied. ICL 670 extracts excess iron from the body, making transfusions safer for sickle cell sufferers. Patients dissolve the tablets in water and drink up. So far, no one has complained of major side effects.

Dr. Zahida Yasin: We're hoping that it will be a breakthrough drug. It's early at this point in time.

Sylvonna Cooper: I hope it works because I would love to just take the pills in the morning at the beginning of my day.

Jennifer Matthews: The drug is still under study, but it's working for Sylvonna. She says her iron counts have already gone down. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.