Octapharma USA starts phase 3 trial for hemophilia treatment

HOBOKEN, N.J. The U.S. subsidiary of a Swiss biotech company has started a late-stage trial of a new treatment for hemophilia that it calls the first of its kind.

Octapharma USA, owned by Lachen, Switzerland-based Octapharma AG, announced Monday the start of a phase 3 trial of a recombinant Factor VIII for the treatment of severe hemophilia A. The company said the treatment was the first rFVIII to be derived from a human cell line.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 90% of all hemophilia patients have hemophilia A, also known as Factor VIII deficiency.