Patricia Inácio, PhD, science writer —

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…

A daily infusion of low-dose factor VIII (FVIII) improves trough levels in patients with severe hemophilia A — compared to infusions performed every other day — without increasing factor VIII consumption, or the amount of medication a patient must take, researchers have found. Trough levels are the lowest concentrations of a…

Damaged joints and bones in mice with hemophilia benefit from extended activity of coagulation factor IX, research shows. The study, “Abnormal joint and bone wound healing in hemophilia mice is improved by extending factor IX activity after hemarthrosis,” was published in the journal Blood. Patients with hemophilia often have…

Researchers have successfully applied a potential gene therapy for hemophilia B based on the genome editing properties of the CRISPR/Cas9 system. The results of this study using mice were presented recently at the 58th Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, Calif. Hemophilia B is a disease…

Recent evidence suggests that hemophilia B is clinically less severe than hemophilia A, highlighting the need to discuss further therapeutic options for each type of hemophilia. The study, “Haemophilia B is clinically less severe than haemophilia A: further evidence,” was published in Blood Transfusion. Hemophilia is an inherited, genetic…

Scientists have improved protein drugs using an approach based on “ancestral sequence reconstruction,” or ASR. The newly established strategy promises to enhance the ability to engineer more efficient and durable proteins, as in the case of human factor VIII for hemophilia. The study “Enhancing the pharmaceutical properties of protein drugs by…

A recent clinical trial indicates that replacement therapy with plasma-derived factor VIII is associated with lower incidence for development of inhibitors in patients with severe hemophilia A. The study,“A Randomized Trial of Factor VIII and Neutralizing Antibodies in Hemophilia A,” was published in The New England Journal of…