Patients around the world need treatment options to help potentially address the significant burden of warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA). wAIHA is a rare, life-threatening disease where autoantibodies lead to the premature destruction of red blood cells, resulting in anemia, which can cause symptoms like debilitating fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, jaundice and in severe cases, chest pain or loss of consciousness.
Approximately 1-3 new people per 100,000 are affected by wAIHA per year, and about 1 in 8,000 individuals are living with the condition. This condition affects both women and men, and can affect people at any age with incidence increasing over the age of 50.
1 in 8,000 individuals are living with wAIHA.”
There remains a need for targeted therapies with proven safety profiles that could maintain immune function, potentially allowing patients to avoid surgery to remove the spleen and may replace the need for repeat blood transfusions.
J&J’s approach to warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA)
We are currently evaluating an immunoselective treatment, designed to potentially address the underlying cause of the disease without impacting other immune functions. This investigational therapy is being studied across multiple auto- and alloantibody-driven diseases.
Keeping patients at the center of everything we do, Johnson & Johnson is committed to tirelessly pushing the boundaries of science to deliver innovative and transformational approaches for autoantibody-driven diseases, such as wAIHA, building on the ever-evolving understanding of the immune system.
