Updates from ASH 2020: Advances in the Understanding and Treatment of Blood Diseases
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is the world’s largest professional organization working to conquer blood diseases. ASH is a global network of scientists and clinicians devoted to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders involving the blood, bone marrow, and the immunologic, hemostatic, and vascular systems.
Every year, researchers present the latest findings at the ASH annual meeting in December. Here are some brief updates illustrating ways in which ASH members are working to advance the understanding and treatment of blood diseases, which were recently presented at the annual meeting in December..
Does Your Blood Group Affect your Bleeding Risk?
People who experience unexplained bleeding are more likely to be in blood group O, compared with people who don’t have unexplained bleeding, according to recent research published in the journal Blood Advances. People in blood group O also have more severe bleeding symptoms than those of other blood types, the study showed.
The study looked at 422 patients with a bleeding disorder of unknown cause, grouping them according to blood type. By comparing how many people in blood group O of the study participants with 23,145 healthy blood donors, the researchers determined that people with unexplained bleeding were more likely to be in blood group O than a non-O group.
Why there are differences in bleeding severity among blood groups remains unknown. While people in blood group O are known to have lower levels of Von Willebrand Factor (VWF), a blood protein essential for proper clotting, this does not explain the differences seen in the study. The researchers call for more research to shed light on the reasons behind increased bleeding severity in people of blood group O.
Reference
Mehic D, Hofer S, Jungbauer C, et al. Association of ABO blood group with bleeding severity in patients with bleeding of unknown cause. Blood Adv. 2020;4(20):5157-64.
Technology Transfer Makes New Hematology Therapies Available
Every rare disease treatment breakthrough starts with a discovery. But often, the researchers who make the discoveries lack the means to develop and market potential new products. In the field of hematology, that situation is changing as technology transfer—the commercialization of government-funded scientific discoveries—becomes increasingly common.
In 1980, the US government passed the Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act (also known as the Bayr-Dole Act, because it was sponsored by Senators Birch Bayh of Indiana and Bob Dole of Kansas). The new legislation, intended to encourage drug development, gave academic researchers the option of patenting and commercializing their own federally funded discoveries, instead of turning them over to the government. As a result, researchers were able to form partnerships with biopharma companies to bring their breakthrough discoveries to market. Some university researchers even founded their own start-ups to put new treatments into the hands of the patients who needed them.
Forty years later, technology transfer is going strong. In the field of hematology, federally funded research has resulted in the introduction of drugs like Obizur antihemophilic factor and Gleevec (imatinib) for chronic myeloid leukemia. Over the years, technology transfer success stories like these have not only yielded new treatments, but have also helped change public perceptions about the value of government-sponsored medical research.
