The Food and Drug Administration has recently approved the first drug for treating hemophilia B. The new drug, Alprolix will help prevent excessive bleeding episodes that adults and children with the disease experience.
This is a great medical advancement for the disorder. According to the FDA Karen Midthun, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research said, “The approval of this product provides another therapeutic option for the treatment and prevention of bleeding in patients with Hemophilia B.”
Evaluations of the drug included monitoring the effects on 123 individuals with severe hemophilia ages 12-71 for up to a year and a half. The drug proved effective in preventing and controlling bleeding episodes.
The disease that causes excessive bleeding affects 3,300 Americans, most of which are males. According to Business Week the condition is usually inherited and is caused by an insufficient amount of Factor IX proteins which are necessary for clotting the blood. In severe cases people have died from losing too much blood.