WFH TSE Task Force bulletin on vCJD risk in

U.K.-sourced plasma products

In what might be another blow to the field of gene therapy, a small biotechnology company is discontinuing its closely watched attempt to treat hemophilia, apparently because its trial ran into technical and safety problems.

On September 21, 2004, health authorities in the United Kingdom (U.K.) have informed many people with hemophilia and other congenital bleeding disorders that they are considered "at-risk" for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). This risk comes from using clotting factor concentrates manufactured in the U.K. between 1980 and 1998 that were contaminated by plasma from donors who later died of vCJD, or which may possibly have been contaminated by donors who are still asymptomatic.

To view the WFH TSE Task Force bulletin on these developments, please click here.


Mark Brooker
Public Policy Officer
World Federation of Hemophilia
1425 Rene Levesque W. Suite 1010
Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1T7 Canada
514-394-2826 fax 514-875-8916
Email: mbrooker[at]wfh.org