Medical treatments for those with bleeding disorders are more advanced than ever and are still improving with regimens like subcutaneous shots, gene therapy, and pills. Yet, there are still medical complications that exist.
What is an inhibitor?
An inhibitor is an immune system response to factors infused into the body. The inhibitor prevents replacement therapy, a way of treating bleeding disorders by infusing or injecting factor which helps blood clot normally. The CDC recommends people with hemophilia or VWD Type 3 to be tested for inhibitors once a year.
Also Read: Signs of a Bleed
Inhibitors occur because the body produces something called antibodies, which occur when the body encounters and detects a foreign substance, which in this case is the clotting factor. The body produces antibodies that bind to the clotting factor which makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to successfully receive medication.
How are inhibitors treated?
Treating an inhibitor is often challenging and can be costly. For low responding inhibitors, continued factor infusions usually work. For high responding inhibitors, it is often not that easy. The removal of antibodies is one treatment, called plasmapheresis. This lowers the level of antibodies in the body which then allows factor treatment. This is only a temporary fix.
There are also therapies that circumvent the need to replace the factor. Bypassing agents that can form a clot are often used. Some popular agents are called FEIBA® (Takeda), a human plasma derived product, NovoSeven® RT (Novo Nordisk), and Sevenfact® (LFB). You can read more about inhibitors and these products here.
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