News

Hemophilia B Treatment SPK-9001 Wins Access to EMA’s PRIority MEdicines Program

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will include SPK-9001 — an investigational drug for patients living with hemophilia B —  in Priority Medicines (PRIME), a voluntary European regulatory initiative to support medicines that target an unmet medical need. PRIME aims to optimize development plans and speed up evaluation so that these priority medicines can…

World’s Largest Genetic Hemophilia Research Repository Opens to U.S. Researchers

My Life, Our Future (MLOF), a national program founded by leaders in the hemophilia and blood disorder community, marked Feb. 28 — Rare Disease Day — by launching the world’s largest research repository of its kind to researchers and scholars. The program is opening to U.S. scientists and will expand to worldwide scientists in…

Extended Trial Confirms Alprolix’s Ability to Prevent Bleeding Episodes

A Phase 3 extension trial has confirmed Alprolix’s long-term ability to prevent bleeding episodes in hemophilia B patients, and its safety. Those in the B-YOND extension trial did not develop an immune response against Alprolix. Adults and adolescents were treated for three years, and children under 12 for 18 months. “These results…

Hemophilia Patients End Up at Emergency Rooms Most Often for Hypertension and Injuries

Adult hemophilia patients use hospital emergency departments mainly due to cardiovascular events, while pediatric patients most frequently complain of injuries, according to researchers. U.S. emergency department (ED) visits by hemophilia patients had a national estimated cost of $60 million in 2012, the year studied. These observations resulted from the retrospective and…

Potential Hemophilia B Therapy Shows Promising Results in Mouse Study

A new delivery mechanism of mRNA therapy was found to efficiently reduce hemophilia B symptoms by correcting the protein deficiency that characterizes the disease in a mouse study. This potential new method might be a viable alternative for many clotting disorders. The study, “Systemic delivery of Factor IX messenger RNA…

Distress Triggers Brain Changes in Hemophilia Children, Study Suggests

Psychological distress triggers microscopic changes in regions of hemophiliac children’s brains that deal with emotions and cognition — and the changes show up before abnormal results on neuropsychiatric tests, researchers discovered. The team said larger studies are needed to confirm the links they found between brain changes, the stage of the…