Nigel Key, MD, Director of the UNC Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center, transitioned from the position of Chairman-Elect of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Council to the role of Chairman at the ISTH Council meeting in Milwaukee June 23-26, 2014. Dr. Key's term will extend for two years.
On Friday, June 6, 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eloctate, Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), Fc fusion protein, for use in adults and children who have hemophilia A. Eloctate is the first hemophilia A treatment designed to require less frequent injections when used to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding.
The CDC established a national public health surveillance project called the Universal Data Collection (UDC) system, which was carried out by the CDC and federally funded hemophilia treatment centers (HTCs) from 1998 through 2011.
Biogen Idec, Inc. has won U.S. approval for its long-acting hemophilia B treatment Alprolix, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday, March 28, 2014.
Dr. Helen C. Okoye of Nigeria has received a Reach-the-World Fellowship offered by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis to receive training at the UNC-Chapel Hill Hemophilia & Thrombosis Center.
The effects of this new low-molecular-weight synthetic heparin can be quickly reversed, unlike the effects of low-molecular-weight heparin currently in use.
UNC hematologists Nigel S. Key, Alice D. Ma, and Stephan Moll are included in the latest compilation of The Best Doctors in America database. Only five percent of doctors in America earn this honor, decided by impartial peer review.
Alice Ma, MD, from the UNC Division of Hematology/Oncology, was on the Choosing Wisely task force for the American Society of Hematology (ASH). ASH recently released a list of the five most common hematologic tests, treatments, and procedures that should be questioned by patients and physicians.
An article entitled "Clinical features and management of haemophilic pseudotumours: a single US centre experience over a 30-year period" was published in the January 2014 issue of the journal Haemophilia. The authors are UNC clinicians Ming Y. Lim, MBBChir; Brenda Nielsen, MSN; Alice Ma, MD; and Nigel Key, MD.
On December 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Tretten (coagulation factor XIII A-subunit [recombinant]) for use in the routine prevention of bleeding in adults and children who have congenital Factor XIII A-subunit deficiency, a rare clotting disorder.