FDA Licenses New Hemophilia Treatment

FDA recently licensed a new treatment for hemophilia A called Xyntha. Xyntha, which is made by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, is a genetically engineered version of factor VIII, a protein essential for blood clotting that is decreased or absent in patients with hemophilia A.

Xyntha is produced without additives from human or animal material. This provides hemophilia A patients with an additional treatment option that can further minimize the risk of infection from the product.

FDA Patient Safety News: May 2008

For more information, please see our website:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/psn/transcript.cfm?show=75#1

Category:

Education

Tags:

• hemophilia
• factor
• VIII
• Xyntha
• blood
• clotting
• bleeding
• FDA

[xXDarylTanXx]

Factor VIII (mentioned in the video) is just like a vaccine. It prevent bleeding for a few days ( depending on how many vial/dose you take ) and also temporary cease any bleeding taking place. Bleeding often occurs between joints like knee, ankle, elbow. These are the most common places that bleeding occur. And once bleeding occurs, it is more likely that the same place will bleed again. Therefore, people often give themselves prophylaxis.

[xXDarylTanXx]

The doctors advised me for liver transplant. However, it is not easy to find one suitable and good condition liver.

[rhv201]

@pierrep93 - I was not intimating that Liver transplantation was a reasonable treatment or cure for Hemophilia at all. The last I had looked into Liver Transplants they were not only risky but, life expectancy was only about five years. If you add in the unbelievable costs of transplantations and the life long medications that are required to help with rejection, it is not a viable option in my opinion.

[pierrep93]

@rhv201 I got hemophilia A Severe and I dont want to do a liver transplant because it's to risky what happens if the body rejects the new liver?

[mortiz723]

yea gotcha09 females are rare tho. 1 in 100,000,000 females get them because females carry xy chromosomes. and the disease is in the x chromo. google some info and read it thats wat i did wen i didnt know anything.

[gotch09]

I've always heard that females carry the gene and then pass it down to their sons. But, I guess my question is this, do ANY females actually suffer from the disease, outright.They bleed and their blood doesn't clot? Any help out there?

[rhv201]

@zeeshanthegr8110 - This like the other treatment is only a treatment, NOT a cure all. To the best of my knowledge there is no cure for Hemophilia at this time short of a liver transplant.

[zeeshanthegr8110]

is this complete treatment means one time treat and disease will finished???

please reply

[ghillies4life]

And how expensive is THIS one? I guess I'm with the person thinking that it's another Benefix. Great pharmaceutical, but what kind of insurance company will cover Benefix, when there are cheaper treatment options. Of course, the decreased infection risk is good enough reason for the patient, but the insurance company doesn't care. Their statisticians tell them that the expected loss/gain is better with the cheaper game because of the probabilities. I think it will be the same with Xyntha.

[garrettmia2000]

very educating lol