News

An international team has joined efforts to establish guidelines for effectiveness and outcome measurements regarding gene therapies in hemophilia. The CoreHEM project will be led by researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, in collaboration with the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) in the U.S. and the Green Park…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Bioverativ’s investigational new drug application (IND) for BIVV001, an investigational Factor VIII therapy designed to extend protection from bleeds in hemophilia A patients. The FDA will now review the IND application for safety. The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company plans to initiate a Phase…

The Hemophilia Federation of America (HFA) has been awarded a $250,000 research grant through the Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Awards Program to support the HFA’s PRIDE Project through training and education of bleeding disorder community stakeholders, including the hemophilia community. The Awards Program is an initiative of the Patient-Centered…

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted orphan medicinal product status to SB-525, a clinical stage gene therapy candidate under development for the treatment of hemophilia A, according to Sangamo Therapeutics and Pfizer. The announcement coincides with the opening of patient enrollment for a Phase 1/2…

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…

Decades ago most hemophilia patients died young. Advances in treatment have led to them living about as long as the general population, which means that for the first time, doctors are facing the challenge of caring for aging hemophiliacs. A key problem is that in the days before treatment breakthroughs,…

Novo Nordisk’s recombinant coagulation factor IX nonacog beta pegol (N9-GP), under the U.S. trade name Rebinyn, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat adults and children with hemophilia B. The company expects to launch this new treatment in the United States early in 2018. The…

Cellphones are a good way for hemophiliacs receiving care at home to relay information that doctors need to stay on top of their treatment. But a lot of patients have yet to embrace the service — and a recent online survey of 181 hemophiliacs shed some light on why. Spanish…

Chris Bombardier, the author of the “Adventures of a Hemophiliac” blog, has become the first person with hemophilia to climb Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak. That achievement on May 22 means the 31-year-old Denver native has only one mountain to go toward his goal of scaling the tallest peaks…

The Phase 1/2 trial looking at the Factor VIII protein SHP656 as a long-acting therapeutic to treat hemophilia A did not meet a pre-defined once-weekly dosing criterion, according to Xenetic Biosciences and Shire, which are jointly developing the drug. The study demonstrated SHP656’s efficacy and pharmacokinetic data (the drug’s behavior once…