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Alexion Pharmaceuticals reports increased revenues of 11% in third quarter 2009

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.

22 Oct 2009

Report: National investment on childhood and adolescent cancer research

The first-ever detailed examination of a country's investment in research on childhood and adolescent cancers was released today by the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance (CCRA) and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (the Partnership).

20 Oct 2009

MDS secures international cooperation to help Canadian teenager with malignant blood disorder

The Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Foundation says a wide range of international cooperation has been secured to help 18-year-old Wes Laporte of Ontario get treatment for a life-threatening condition in the US.

15 Oct 2009

Researchers discover the role of endothelin in vaso-occlusive pain

Agonizing physical pain, known as vaso-occlusive pain, can afflict children who have sickle cell disease (SCD). In some cases infants as young as two months of age suffer vaso-occlusive pain so severe that opiate medications and hospitalizations are their only relief. Researchers believe vaso-occlusion is caused by a blockage of the blood vessels that occurs when sickle shaped red cells attempt to pass through the round blood vessels.

11 Sep 2009

Symptomless blood disorder MGUS not a precursor of serious diseases

A symptomless blood disorder, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, known as MGUS, is not linked to as many serious diseases as previously thought. This finding may save patients from undergoing unnecessary workup and treatment according to a study published in the August 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

26 Aug 2009

Combined therapy for acute leukemia shows promising results

Two of the most powerful approaches to cancer treatment -- a stem cell transplant and an immune system-stimulating vaccine -- appear to reinforce each other in patients with an aggressive, hard-to-control form of leukemia, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have found.

25 Aug 2009

Real Americans share experiences, common need for patient-centric reform

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, the world's leading generic pharmaceutical company, today announced the start of its "Patient First" project as part of the Year of Affordable Healthcare campaign. The initiative, available at: www.yearofaffordablehealth.com/patients, features a first-hand perspective of everyday Americans as they struggle with the enormous and sometimes insurmountable expense of paying for their prescription medicines.

21 Aug 2009

e-infrastructure to tackle diseases

Disease knows no borders and now researchers in Europe and the Mediterranean shoreline are using electronic infrastructures (e-Infrastructures) to coordinate and cooperate internationally.

19 Aug 2009

Mother's immune system may block fetal treatments for blood diseases

Pediatric researchers have resolved an apparent contradiction in the field of prenatal cell transplantation - a medical approach that holds future promise in correcting sickle cell disease and other serious congenital blood disorders. In a new study in animals, the researchers showed that the mother's immune response interferes with the offspring's earlier ability to tolerate transplanted donor cells.

17 Aug 2009

Massage therapy eases sickle cell disease pain in children

Massage offers both physical and psychological benefits and is used at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in many areas including Rehabilitation, Physical Medicine and in patients who have received organ transplants, just to name a few. Researchers at Nationwide Children’s recently published a study in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology that revealed the benefits of massage in reducing pain, anxiety and depression in children with Sickle Cell Disease.

12 Aug 2009

Soliris (Eculizumab) granted orphan drug designation in Europe and U.S. for atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced today that Soliris® (eculizumab), its first-in-class complement inhibitor, has been granted Orphan Medicinal Product Designation by the European Commission for the treatment of patients with atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS). AHUS is an ultra-rare, inherited, and life-threatening complement-inhibitor deficiency disease that often progresses to end-stage kidney disease or failure. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted orphan drug designation to Soliris for the same indication in May 2009. Soliris is not approved for the treatment of patients with aHUS.

6 Aug 2009

Certain pesticides double the risk of blood disorder

A study involving 678 individuals who apply pesticides, culled from a U.S. Agricultural Health Study of over 50,000 farmers, recently found that exposure to certain pesticides doubles one's risk of developing an abnormal blood condition called MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance) compared with individuals in the general population.

13 Jun 2009

“Misreading” of histone code linked to human cancer

The development of blood from stem cell to fully formed blood cell follows a genetically determined program. When it works properly, blood formation stops when it reaches maturity. But when it doesn't, genetic mutations can prevent the stop signal and cause the developing cells to turn cancerous. In research published in Nature, Rockefeller University scientists show for the first time that a misreading of the blood cells' histone code is responsible for acute myeloid leukemia, a rare form of the deadly blood cancer.

1 Jun 2009

Screening to help prevent stroke in kids increases, but limited access a problem

The number of children with a certain blood disorder undergoing an ultrasound to help prevent stroke is up significantly in the past 10 years since the publication of a major study showing its benefits.

13 Apr 2009

Cellular discovery may lead to targeted treatment for rare form of anemia

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have identified the specific biological mechanisms believed to lead to a rare and incurable blood disease known as Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA).

15 Mar 2009

Recombinant human antithrombin drug decreases risk to pregnancy and surgery patients with hereditary antithrombin deficiency

Pregnancy and surgery patients with a serious blood disorder that causes excessive clotting have responded well to treatment with a man-made anti-clotting protein.

8 Dec 2008

Novel therapeutic approaches for various forms of thrombocytopenia

Four studies that highlight significant advances in treatment and survival outcomes for patients with various forms of thrombocytopenia, a group of bleeding disorders characterized by a low number of platelets in the blood, were presented December 6 during the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, CA.

8 Dec 2008

Breakthrough in sickle cell disease and thalassemia research

Researchers have identified a gene that directly affects the production of a form of hemoglobin that is instrumental in modifying the severity of the inherited blood disorders sickle cell disease and thalassemia.

5 Dec 2008

Genetic breakdown in Fanconi anemia may have link to HPV-associated cancer

A genetic malfunction that causes DNA instability in people with the blood disorder Fanconi anemia may put them at high risk for squamous cell carcinomas linked to human papillomavirus (HPV), according to a study posted online ahead of print by Oncogene.

3 Dec 2008

FDA approves Nplate (romiplostim), first bone marrow stimulator for chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Nplate (romiplostim), the first product that directly stimulates the bone marrow to produce needed platelets in patients with a rare blood disorder that can lead to serious bleeding.

24 Aug 2008