Oral factor XIa inhibitor milvexian in Phase 2 trial
Factor XI inhibition with oral milvexian has been shown to reduce the risk of postoperative VTE without increasing the risk of bleeding.
An international phase 2 trial across 18 countries including Australia compared milvexian (25, 50, 100, 200 mg twice daily or 25, 50, 200 mg once daily) with endoxaparin (40 mg once daily) in 1,242 patients undergoing knee arthroplasty.
Milvexian significantly reduced the incidence of postoperative VTE in a dose-dependent manner with both twice-daily and once-daily regimens.
“Furthermore, the incidence of venous thromboembolism was significantly lower with daily milvexian doses of 100 mg or more than that with enoxaparin.”
The principal safety outcome of bleeding of any severity occurred in 38 of 923 patients (4%) given milvexian and in 12 of 296 patients (4%) given enoxaparin.
Read more in the NEJM.
Haematologist numbers for 2021 revealed by AHPRA
Australia has 718 medical practitioners registered under the specialist physician category of haematology as their field of practice, according to the latest statistics on medical registration released by AHPRA.
The figures, covering 2021, show that there are 130,476 registered medical practitioners in total in Australia, and 11,114 registered as specialists.
There are also 22 specialist physicians registered in the category of Paediatric Haematology and 641 registered in the category of Pathology-Haematology.
The specialist haematology physicians include 15 in the ACT, 218 in NSW, 5 in the Northern Territory, 129 in Queensland, 49in South Australia 19 in Tasmania, 213 in Victoria, 50 in WA.
Plasma products hit by pandemic restrictions
Plasma product giant CSL is facing challenges in the US because of pandemic-travel restrictions and visa changes that have barred one of the main sources of plasma donors – Mexicans visitors.
The company is reported to have 60 plasma collection centres in US states bordering Mexico, but a new immigration ruling has barred holders of short term visitor visas from receiving payment for donating plasma in the US. Plasma fractionation makes up a large part of the company’s business for products such as immunoglobulin.
After seeing a 20% drop in plasma donations in the last year the $131 billion company is now taking legal action against the US Customs and Border Protection agency to ease visitor restrictions, according to the AFR.
However analysts predict that plasma donation levels will recover in 2022 with new incentives for donors.