Patricia Inácio, PhD, science writer —

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted the hold on clinical studies with fitusiran, an investigational therapy for hemophilia, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced. “We are pleased with the FDA’s decision to lift the clinical hold, as fitusiran holds the potential to help improve the lives of people…

A new analysis of two Phase 3 clinical trials confirms that extending preventive treatment with Alprolix is safe and leads to markedly decreases in bleeding episodes of severe hemophilia B patients. The results were recently presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH)…

Injection of Hemlibra (emicizumab-KXWH) every four weeks helps control bleeding in hemophilia A patients, an interim analysis of the Phase 3 HAVEN 4 study shows. The results, announced by Genentech, are in agreement with several previous clinical trials – HAVEN 1 (NCT02622321),…

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi) announced the successful enrollment of the first hemophilia A patient in the company’s ReITIrate clinical trial. The Phase 4 study (NCT03103542), sponsored in collaboration with Bioverativ Therapeutics, is actively recruiting participants who have developed inhibitors and who have failed to respond to other therapies. Researchers…

Pfizer Rare Disease has developed a new video game and wearable wristband to help hemophilia patients learn more about their condition and promote activity tracking in the U.S. The video game, Hemocraft, and the HemMobile Striiv Wearable wristband were launched at the National Hemophilia Foundation’s 69th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Aug. 24-26.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted priority review to the therapy emicizumab for patients with hemophilia A with factor VIII inhibitors, Genetech, the drug’s developer, announced. The FDA also announced the acceptance of Genetech’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for emicizumab prophylaxis (preventive) therapy in adults, adolescents and children…

Information from patient surveys can help doctors do a better job of managing hemophilia and improving patients’ outcomes, an American study reports. The research, which appeared in the journal Patient Preference and Adherence, was titled “Construct validity of patient-reported outcome instruments in US adults with hemophilia: results from the Pain, Functional…

Forty percent of men with hemophilia who responded to a survey said the condition can weigh on their sex life, although University of California researchers cautioned that the 20-person sample was very small. Some of the respondents said they can experience bleeding from sex. In addition, the joint stiffness and joint…

Shire has launched a Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT02585960) with Adynovate, a drug approved to help treat and control bleeding in children and adults with hemophilia A. The trial is currently recruiting participants. Adynovate is an injectable recombinant factor VIII (FVIII), designed using pegylation technology, which allows it to last…

A new, modified version of recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII), called rVIII-SingleChain, showed great efficacy and safety in treating bleeding events in children with severe hemophilia A. The study, “Safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of rVIII-SingleChain in children with severe hemophilia A: results of a multicenter clinical trial,” was published in…