Thalassemia clinical trials at UCSD

In parallel with the growth of American Thrombosis and Hemostasis Network's (ATHN) clinical studies, the number of new therapies for all congenital and acquired hematologic conditions, not just those for bleeding and clotting disorders, is increasing significantly. Some of the recently FDA-approved therapies for congenital and acquired hematologic conditions have yet to demonstrate long-term safety and effectiveness beyond the pivotal trials that led to their approval. In addition, results from well-controlled, pivotal studies often cannot be replicated once a therapy has been approved for general use.(1,2,3,4) In 2019 alone, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued approvals for twenty-four new therapies for congenital and acquired hematologic conditions.(5) In addition, almost 10,000 new studies for hematologic diseases are currently registered on www.clinicaltrials.gov.(6) With this increase in potential new therapies on the horizon, it is imperative that clinicians and clinical researchers in the field of non-neoplastic hematology have a uniform, secure, unbiased, and enduring method to collect long-term safety and efficacy data. ATHN Transcends is a cohort study to determine the safety, effectiveness, and practice of therapies used in the treatment of participants with congenital or acquired non-neoplastic blood disorders and connective tissue disorders with bleeding tendency. The study consists of 7 cohorts with additional study "arms" and "modules" branching off from the cohorts. The overarching objective of this longitudinal, observational study is to characterize the safety, effectiveness and practice of treatments for all people with congenital and acquired hematologic disorders in the US. As emphasized in a recently published review, accurate, uniform and quality national data collection is critical in clinical research, particularly for longitudinal cohort studies covering a lifetime of biologic risk.(7)