News

A gene therapy approach acquired by uniQure was recently covered in two new patents, one issued in the United States and one in Canada, broadly covering ways of treating bleeding disorders that include hemophilia B, the company announced in a press release. The therapy has a nucleic acid encoding the…

Hemlibra (emicizumab-kxwh) was recently granted priority review status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration following the agency’s acceptance of Genentech’s supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for the treatment for people with hemophilia A without factor VIII inhibitors. Priority review status is granted to therapies that could…

As President Trump signed the recently passed Right to Try legislation into law in a White House ceremony, Jordan McLinn of Indianapolis tried twice to embrace him. The third time, 9-year-old Jordan finally got the hug he wanted — as well as a kiss on the forehead. The video of…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a larger vial size — 3,500 IU — of CSL Behring’s Idelvion (albutrepenonacog alfa) for the treatment of hemophilia B patients. Idelvion is supplied as a powder for intravenous use and must be reconstituted, or mixed with a liquid (called…

SPK-9001, an investigational gene therapy being developed by Spark Therapeutics and Pfizer, continues to demonstrate great potential to treat hemophilia B patients in an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial. The latest results showed that the annualized bleeding rates of all treated patients were reduced by 98%. In…

Preliminary results of a Phase 1/2a trial of the hemophilia A experimental treatment BIVV001 show a significant extension of replacement therapy lifetime in the blood, Bioverativ announced. The ongoing, and still recruiting, open-label, multicenter EXTEN-A study (NCT03205163) is evaluating the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of a single intravenous injection…

Finding treatments and potential cures for rare diseases is crucial, but so is the quality of patients’ lives — a rather nebulous term that means different things to different people. “Recently, there’s been much more of a focus on Quality of Life (QoL) issues, real-world evidence and patient-reported outcomes,” said…

Should regulatory authorities agree with favorable results from Genentech’s ongoing Phase 3 studies of Hemlibra (emicizumab-kxwh),  hemophilia A patients may have a treatment they can use regardless of inhibitor status, with a choice of three dosing schedules that might better match their lifestyle and preferences. “The ultimate goal for…

Data from ongoing Phase 3 clinical trials show that Genentech’s Hemlibra (emicizumab-kxwh) prophylaxis — or preventive treatment — greatly outperforms current standard-of-care therapies, leading to significant reductions in the number of bleeds in hemophilia A patients regardless of inhibitor status. Promising results from these pivotal studies may lead…

Patient advocacy groups in five states will focus on the challenges affecting patients with blood disorders like hemophilia with the support in part of grants from the Local Empowerment for Advocacy Development (LEAD) program, sponsored by CSL Behring. The five groups are the Bleeding Disorders Foundation of Washington (BDFW), the …