An Exploration of the Impact of Emicizumab on the Lives of People With Haemophilia and Inhibitors and Their Families

Emicizumab offers patients protection from bleeding with fewer injections, this should reduce treatment burden. While patient expectation is high (as evidenced by the conversations on UK haemophilia social media sites) there are risks that patients may forget to treat and thus experience bleeds. During clinical trials participants have been monitored closely and, through questionnaire completion, have described improvement in quality of life \[Mancuso et al, 2018, Oldenburg et al 2019\]. What is also apparent to clinical teams is the dramatic change to life experience of not just the patient but his family - the ability to travel, to plan attending events knowing that bleeds will not occur, even potentially to have another child because of the reduction in treatment burden, particularly the time needed for treatment and rehabilitation. This therapy represents a substantial shift in the entire life experience of living with and managing haemophilia with inhibitors. As such, there is a need to look beyond the quantitative data collected in clinical trials and to assess the real impact of therapy on the everyday lives of patients and their families, gathered using qualitative research techniques. Emicizumab has been available in the UK in clinical trials and as part of an Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS) for non-trial eligible patients since spring 2018. It was recently licensed in the UK and is now available for routine clinical care for any person with haemophilia A and an inhibitor. We hypothesise that patients and their carers/families will be excited about this new treatment option and that for most, if not all, the promise of improved care and quality of life will be a reality.