Taiwan covers haemophilia therapy that can reduce injections to six a year

Taiwan’s National Health Insurance has begun covering a rebalancing therapy that can cut treatment for some people with severe haemophilia from multiple intravenous infusions each week to as few as six under-the-skin injections a year. Coverage began on 1 August for eligible patients aged 12 and older with severe haemophilia A or B, whether or not they have developed antibodies that interfere with replacement clotting factors.

Haemophilia prevents blood from clotting normally. In severe cases, spontaneous bleeding into muscles or joints can occur without an injury, and repeated episodes may cause permanent joint damage. Standard preventive care commonly replaces the missing clotting factor through intravenous injections one to three times a week. The newly covered drug, fitusiran, instead reduces antithrombin, helping restore the balance between clotting and anti-clotting activity. Depending on a patient’s condition, it may be given once every two months.

The change is especially important for people with haemophilia B who also have inhibitor antibodies, a group that has had fewer treatment options. One 46-year-old with severe haemophilia B described previously injecting himself more than 100 times a year and needing five or six doses in a week during acute bleeding. With the newer therapy, his schedule fell to the minimum six yearly injections. Health officials estimate that between 115 and 252 people could receive the treatment from the first through fifth years of coverage.