Living with hemophilia B and von Willebrand disease means getting used to things that most people would consider unusual. Bruises appear without explanation. Minor injuries take longer to heal. A routine dental visit requires more planning than most people would ever imagine. And sometimes, the body sends…

Rap sessions are common at bleeding disorder conferences. During these group discussions, people come together to talk about similar interests, such as a new diagnosis in the family, inhibitors, or what it’s like being a hemo parent. Facilitators help the participants ask questions of one another and have meaningful…

I’m happy to finally be an official member of the Father’s Day club. I’ve learned much from the way my own family raised me. It’s an uphill battle raising our daughter Cittie with the occasional bleed dragging me down. But seeing her mature so quickly…

Letting a doctor go can feel like a radical act, especially when, like me, you live with a lifelong bleeding disorder. Many of us are taught, implicitly or explicitly, to be grateful for any care we receive, to avoid rocking the boat, and to trust that the person with the…

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated BioMarin Pharmaceutical’s new application seeking approval of its investigational one-time gene therapy Roctavian (valoctocogene roxaparvovec) for severe hemophilia A. The application was resubmitted to EMA following a request for longer follow-up data from the Phase 3 GENEr8-1 clinical trial (NCT03370913),…

Nearly two-thirds of children with severe hemophilia A given once-weekly Altuviiio (efanesoctocog alfa) in a Phase 3 clinical trial were completely free of bleeds over about one year of treatment. That’s according to new findings from the recently-completed XTEND-Kids study (NCT04759131), which were presented as late-breaking…

Nearly two-thirds of children with severe hemophilia A on preventive, or prophylactic, treatment with once-weekly Altuviiio (efanesoctocog alfa) in the yearlong XTEND-Kids study were free of bleeding episodes needing treatment. More than 80% in this Phase 3 clinical trial also were free of spontaneous bleedings and joint bleeds needing…

Over seven years of follow-up, a single dose of Roctavian (valoctocogene roxaparvovec-rvox) sustainably reduced the yearly bleeding rate in adults with severe hemophilia A by up to 96%. That’s according to an update on a Phase 1/2 clinical trial (NCT02576795), launched in the U.K. in 2015, that’s…

Hospitalizations are disruptive. When someone has to go the hospital, day-to-day routines take a back seat. Being at the hospital becomes the top priority and life must move around the illness. But when a patient and family experience constant hospitalizations, this becomes their normal routine. My youngest son, Caeleb,…

One of the best things about my relationship with my wife is our team approach to difficult circumstances stemming from hemophilia. I tend to remain calm at the beginning of a problem, while she is active toward the end. Our responses mostly happen automatically, like clockwork. We are grateful…