News

A step-by-step process is needed to accurately diagnose cold agglutinin disease (CAD) and other forms of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), according to a report. This process involves the detection of blood cell destruction, establishing whether this is due to an immune attack, and finally zeroing in on the specific…

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 third of adults with severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) — a group of rare conditions that includes cold agglutinin disease (CAD) — responded to intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG), when used as an add-on therapy, after seven days, according to a retrospective study from France. The study also detailed a…

Maintaining a high temperature with the equipment used for plasmapheresis therapy in people with cold agglutinin disease (CAD), along with the environment and patients, may help prevent the risk of red blood cell clumping and destruction during the procedure, a new case report suggests. “Although our approach still…

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…

Daratumumab, given on its own, could be a treatment for adults with hard to treat cold agglutinin disease (CAD), with more than half of the patients in a small study in Europe responding well to the therapy. The findings add to previous reports about the successful use of…

Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) secondary to a blood cancer was the most likely diagnosis for an elderly woman in Washington, D.C., despite a negative result on a diagnostic test for CAD known as a direct Coombs test, a case report shows. The test assesses whether red blood cells…

Most children and adolescents with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) — a group of rare conditions that includes cold agglutinin disease (CAD) — respond well to the recommended first-line treatment for adult patients, a study found. The retrospective, single-center study in Brazil found that only a minority of pediatric AIHA…

Infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, worsened symptoms of cold agglutinin disease (CAD) in a 71-year-old man in whom the autoimmune disease had been stable, a U.S. study reports. This case highlights the need for clinicians to be “mindful of potential preexisting … conditions, particularly [blood-related] diseases,…

Initial results from a planned proof-of-concept clinical trial testing Annexon Biosciences’ treatment candidate ANX1502 in people with cold agglutinin disease (CAD) are expected in the second half of the year. “We anticipate clinical proof-of-concept data from our novel oral inhibitor ANX1502 later in the year,” Douglas Love, president…