Hemophilia Therapy Donated To Patients In Developing World

The first shipments of much-needed hemophilia therapy have started to arrive at treatment centers across the developing world, announced Biogen, Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi), and the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) in a press release on Oct. 12, 2015. The shipments are part of the largest humanitarian aid pledge of its kind to help people with hemophilia in developing countries.

The donation will provide up to 500 million units of hemophilia therapy during the course of five years to the WFH and represents a significant contribution to the expansion of the federation's Humanitarian Aid Program, a 20-year old initiative dedicated to providing treatment and care for people with hemophilia in the developing world. This initiative is the first phase of Biogen and Sobi’s 10-year commitment to produce one billion International Units (IUs) of hemophilia therapy for humanitarian use. 

Hemophilia is a rare, chronic, inherited disorder in which the ability of a person’s blood to clot is impaired. The WFH donation program is designed to create a sustainable model for humanitarian aid that has the potential to improve hemophilia care in regions of the world where, due to limited access to diagnosis and treatment, people with severe hemophilia often do not survive to adulthood. This donation is intended to help enable a predictable and sustainable supply of therapy to countries in need, and is the first time treatment clinics will receive product manufactured specifically for humanitarian use. The first recipient countries of the donation include Senegal, Kenya, Philippines, Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, El Salvador, Indonesia, Ghana, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.

According to the WFH, an estimated 400,000 people worldwide have hemophilia and of these, more than 300,000 individuals live in areas where there is limited access to diagnosis and treatment. This commitment from Biogen and Sobi and the steady flow of medicine to WFH may help enable access to treatment for emergency situations, acute bleeds, elective surgeries, and also prophylaxis for children.

Source: WFH