Margarida Maia, PhD,  science writer—

Treatment with marstacimab (PF-06741086), an experimental antibody-based therapy developed by Pfizer, reduced the number of bleeds in patients with severe hemophilia who took part in a Phase 1b/2 clinical study. This held true regardless of whether patients had hemophilia A or hemophilia B, or had inhibitors…

A blood test to determine the amount of active factor IX — the clotting factor that is missing in hemophilia B — in patients ages 2 and older is now available in clinical labs in Canada, the European Union, Australia, and New Zealand. The test, called CRYOcheck Chromogenic…

Boys with severe hemophilia A who switched to Kovaltry (octocog alfa), which replaces a missing clotting protein called factor VIII (FVIII), retained the therapy for longer in the body and had fewer bleeds, a study in China reported. Findings come from a head-to-head comparison of Kovaltry and three…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given fast track designation to ASC618, an investigational one-time gene therapy for hemophilia A in the pipeline of ASC Therapeutics. Fast track status works to speed the development and regulatory review of treatments for serious disorders that show a potential to fill…

A foam roller to release tension in the fascia — a casing of fibrous tissue that surrounds and holds other tissues in place — is safe to be used by patients with knee joint disease caused by hemophilia, a Spanish has study found. When the fascia tightens around muscles,…

Diabetes, which causes blood sugar levels to rise too high, is less likely to develop in young men with hemophilia than in the general male population, a U.S. study found. However, the risk of diabetes rose in older patients and in those who tested positive for hepatitis C (HCV),…

Four people in a region of Northern Italy were diagnosed with acquired hemophilia A (AHA) weeks after receiving the second dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, scientists reported. The unusually high number of newly identified acquired hemophilia A cases within eight months in the Italian province led the investigators to suspect…

In Austria, most patients with hemophilia have been vaccinated against COVID-19 — but some expressed concerns over the vaccine’s potential side effects — a small study found. Data showed that 75.0% of the patients in the study were fully vaccinated and that 87.5% had received at least one dose…

In a Phase 1/2 dose-finding study called B-AMAZE, FLT180a gene therapy from Freeline Therapeutics brought about sustained levels of factor IX, the clotting factor that is missing in people with hemophilia B, and this translated into fewer bleeds each year. Levels of factor IX within the normal range…

For some patients with moderate or severe hemophilia, switching from standard to extended half-life replacement therapy results in improvements in key outcome measures, a study in Canada found. Most of these self-reported gains in health-related quality of life, and physical, mental, and social functioning three months after the switch,…