US researchers at the University of Southern California revealed a new preventive treatment they called “Phytoceran”, which can reduce dangerous bleeding for patients with hemophilia, a genetic condition that affects the blood’s ability to clot, which puts patients at risk of severe bleeding.
Phytoceran is the first small interfering RNA developed that targets a specific protein that reduces blood clotting, called antithrombin, to increase clotting ability.
During the first trial, 25 out of 38 of the participants who received phytoceran and had the inhibitors had no bleeding after nine months, compared to 1 out of 19 who received an on-demand clotting agent.Research conducted on patients without inhibitors revealed that 40 out of 79 of those who received the monthly vaccinations did not experience bleeding, compared to 2 out of 40 in the other group.
About 9,000 people, mostly men, develop hemophilia in the UK, and patients are often treated with clotting factor drugs to make up for what they’re missing, or with retrograde drugs when they bleed.
Preventive drugs should be injected every other day for hemophilia patients with group A and 2-3 times a week for patients with group B.
