Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. (GBT) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) to voxelotor (previously called GBT440) for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). Voxelotor is being developed as a disease-modifying therapy for SCD and previously received European Medicines Agency (EMA) Priority Medicines (PRIME) designation for the treatment of SCD. The FDA selectively grants BTD to expedite the development and review of drugs that have demonstrated preliminary clinical evidence indicating the potential for substantial improvement over available therapy.