Turoctocog alfa

Turoctocog alfa (trade name NovoEight) is a recombinant antihemophilic factor VIII used for the treatment of and prophylaxis of bleeding patients with haemophilia A. It is marketed by Novo Nordisk. It was first launched in Germany in January 2014 and has been approved in the US, EU and Japan.

Medical uses

In the safety and efficacy trial for prevention and treatment of bleeds, in hemophilia patients the success rate for treatment of bleeds was 84.5% (excluding bleeds for which there was no outcome reported) and out of a total of nine surgeries in nine patients performed during the trial, haemostasis was successful in all the surgeries and no treatment failures were reported. It is also used for perioperative management and routine prophylaxis to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes. Turoctocog alfa is not indicated for the treatment of von Willebrand disease.

Benefits and risks

In a study conducted with 150 patients aged 12 and above, adolescents after using turoctocog alfa as a treatment, had an average of 5.55 bleedings per year while the adults had an average of 6.68 bleeding per year. According to data, turoctocog alfa was considered an 'excellent' treatment for 403 out of 499 bleeding episodes. In another study involving 63 patients aged less than 12 years, children had an average of 5.33 bleedings per year after using turoctocog alfa as hemophilia treatment. In this study too turoctocog alfa was considered as an 'excellent' treatment for 116 out of 126 bleeding episodes.