Recombinant factor VIII may not abolish risk of new variant CJD from factor VIII

BMJ 1998;316:1385 ( 2 May )

Letters

Recombinant factor VIII may not abolish risk of new variant CJD from factor VIII

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Barbara and Flanagan report the precautionary measures against new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease that have beenannounced by the UK Department of Health.¹ Unfortunately, thesecretary of state announced the outcome of the NHS review ofthe provision of factor VIII for patients with haemophilia atthe same time. The rationale for endorsing the use of recombinantfactor VIII in children has thus become linked to concerns overnew variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob.

Recombinant factor VIII is a biologically derived product produced by cell culture, not a synthetic product as stated in theannouncement from the Department of Health. This is an importantdistinction because the word synthetic may be taken to imply thatrecombinant products do not carry a risk of transmitting infectiousagents.

Recombinant factor VIII typically has a total protein content that is greater than or equivalent to that contained in somehigh purity plasma-derived factor VIII. This . . . [Full text of this article]