Current concepts in the prevention of pathogen transmission via blood/plasma-derived products for bleeding disorders

The pathogen safety of blood/plasma-derived products has historically been a subject of significant concern to the medical community. Measures such as donor selection and blood screening have contributed to increase the safety of these products, but pathogen transmission does still occur. Reasons for this include lack of sensitivity/specificity of current screening methods, lack of reliable screening tests for some pathogens (e.g. prions) and the fact that many potentially harmful infectious agents are not routinely screened for. Methods for the purification/inactivation of blood/plasma-derived products have been developed in order to further reduce the residual risk, but low concentrations of pathogens do not necessarily imply a low level of risk for the patient and so the overall challenge of minimising risk remains. This review aims to discuss the variable level of pathogenic risk and describes the current screening methods used to prevent/detect the presence of pathogens in blood/plasma-derived products

Safety and efficacy of emicizumab and other novel agents in newborns and infants.

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Pierce, G.F., Hart, D.P., Kaczmarek, R. and (2019), Safety and efficacy of emicizumab and other novel agents in newborns and infants. Haemophilia, 25: e334-e335. doi:10.1111/hae.13822, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/hae.13822. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsThe evolution of a non‐clotting factor category of therapeutic agents, including diverse strategies of manipulating the positive and negative regulators of haemostasis, presents a paradigm shift in de‐creasing the burden of therapy. More importantly, the first product to report Phase 3 results (emicizumab) offers potentially superior efficacy to clotting factor prophylaxis.1 Optimal protection of a newly diagnosed child with severe haemophilia from bleeding would include starting treatment on the day of diagnosis. With the advent of long‐acting subcutaneous therapies, this aspiration has become feasible. For those with a preceding family history of haemophilia, the day of diagnosis will be the day of birth. Those without a family history are diagnosed at variable times through the first or second year of life due to traumatic or postsurgical bleedingGFP has been a consultant to Genentech/Roche, BioMarin, Pfizer and Takeda. DPH has received research grants from Bayer, Octapharma and Takeda

Vaccination against COVID-19: Rationale, modalities and precautions for patients with haemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders.

While COVID‐19 is far from being eradicated, the first COVID‐19 vaccine has now been approved in the U.K., the European Union, Canada and the United States, and vaccinations have been initiated as of December 8, 2020 in the U.K. Additional vaccines have been licensed in the United States, the U.K. and India. Approvals in other jurisdictions and the arrival of additional effective vaccines are imminent. The success of vaccination campaigns will depend on the number of people effectively vaccinated. The vaccinated population will limit the spread of the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus. [...