The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared CRYOcheck Chromogenic Factor IX assay, a test intended to be used by clinical labs to detect a deficiency in factor IX (FIX), the cause of hemophilia B. The chromogenic, or color-based, test developed by Precision BioLogic is reported…

Christmas season has always been stressful for me. I live in Florida, but my family lives in the arctic tundra of Illinois and Wisconsin. I can’t understand why my mom and I travel north instead of having  everyone come to us in sunny Florida, but as I often say, “It…

SerpinPC, a potential treatment for all types of hemophilia, from the drug development pipeline at Centessa Therapeutics, was found to be safe and to reduce patients’ bleeding episodes for up to 1.5 years. In fact, the therapy candidate has the potential to nearly “zero out” the number of…

In the Christian tradition, the season of Advent occurs for the four weeks leading to Christmas. Through the time leading up to the birth of Christ, we take a fearless moral inventory and address the issues that keep us from experiencing hope and contentment. I often equate Advent as a…

An excellent sitcom in the late 1970s and early ’80s featured the character Herb Tarlek, played by Frank Bonner. Fans of “WKRP in Cincinnati” will remember how Tarlek, a sales manager, would do anything necessary to secure advertising for his radio station, such as soliciting ads from outrageous…

Stephanie was my foster child in the ’90s. She was the cutest little girl on the planet. With curly, bright-red hair and freckles, she had a charisma and charm that were hard to ignore. Stephanie was born with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. She developed full-blown AIDS when she…

With the holiday season fast approaching, many of us are clamoring to buy gifts for the people we hold dear. But it can be hard to find gifts even for those closest to us. This is especially true if they’re easily satisfied or, on the other end of the spectrum,…

Hemophilia is a rare bleeding disorder. It leads to uncontrolled bleeding, hospitalizations, doctor visits, and the need for expensive medications. Bleeds result in costly absences from work and school. Receiving care at a federally funded hemophilia treatment center (HTC) is essential. Most hematologists focus on blood cancers or…

I’ve always had a hard time handling disappointment. I grew up labeled a high achiever and was accustomed to meeting high expectations. I feared disappointing other people, or feeling that my best efforts just weren’t enough. As a result, I became sensitive to disappointment, rejection, and failure — a fearsome…

Adults with moderate-to-severe hemophilia engage in less physical activity and have reduced physical fitness relative to healthy adults, according to a recent study. Data also indicated these patients had more indicators of abdominal fat accumulation and more often had high blood pressure than healthy people, which could overall reflect…