Margarida Maia, PhD, science writer —

Treatment with rituximab — commonly used off-label for cold agglutinin disease (CAD) — was reported to successfully resolve a serious case of CAD secondary to an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and potential contraceptive pill toxicity in a young woman in Europe. The woman had developed severe jaundice and liver…

Zydus Lifesciences’ desidustat eases the anemia and red blood cell destruction that mark autoimmune hemolytic anemia, or AIHA, a group of autoimmune conditions that includes cold agglutinin disease (CAD), a study in a mouse model has found. The oral therapy was shown to stimulate red blood cell production…

Parsaclisib, an experimental oral therapy from Incyte, safely and effectively increased levels of hemoglobin in about half of people with cold agglutinin disease (CAD) in a small Phase 2 clinical trial, a study shows. Data from the study (NCT03538041), which included people with other forms of autoimmune…

Restarting Enjaymo (sutimlimab) after stopping it for up to four months was generally safe and brought blood markers of cold agglutinin disease (CAD) back to levels before its cessation. These are the findings of a Japanese open-label extension (OLE) study wherein seven CAD patients who completed one of…

How childhood autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) — a group of rare conditions that includes cold agglutinin disease (CAD) — is defined and classified varies widely, as does the approach to care for children with hard-to-treat disease, a review study shows. “Standardized definitions and classifications are needed to guide collaborative efforts…

The detection of cold agglutinins, the self-reactive antibodies that drive cold agglutinin disease (CAD), was crucial for the correct diagnosis and management of anemia — lower than normal levels of red blood cells or hemoglobin — in a 37-year-old man with several traumatic injuries after a motorcycle accident, according…

A woman in Costa Rica developed cold agglutinin disease (CAD) secondary to a diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that was complicated by nephritis, a serious kidney inflammation that often occurs with this form of lupus. CAD “is exceptionally rare in SLE, with few cases being reported in…

A Japanese woman developed cold agglutination disease (CAD) following COVID-19 and a secondary bacterial infection in the lungs that may have worsened her symptoms, a case study showed. “There is a need for continuous observation to evaluate whether COVID-19, even when it does not require hospitalization, is related to…

Vermont Governor Phil Scott has signed into law a bill that improves access to the right medication at the right time by requiring both private and public health insurers to make timely exceptions to their step therapy policies. Misuse of step therapy protocols, which require patients to “fail first” on…

A woman with both cold agglutinin disease (CAD) and myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare blood cancer, responded well to treatment with a moderate dose of the corticosteroid prednisolone followed by cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant, a case study reports. While corticosteroids usually fail to treat CAD, they were used in this case…