Uncertainty in an era of transformative therapy for haemophilia: Addressing the unknowns

Haemophilia is at the dawn of a new era in therapeutic management, one that can generate greater protection from bleeding and a functional cure in some individuals. Prior advances in protein engineering and monoclonal antibody technology have facilitated therapeutic options to maintain decreased risk of bleeding and less burdensome treatment. The use of gene transfer, first proposed in 1971 for monogenic diseases, is emerging as an effective long-term treatment for a variety of diseases. Transfer of functional factor VIII (FVIII) and factor IX (FIX) genes has witnessed a series of advances and setbacks since the first non-clinical experiments in animals were initiated nearly 30 years ago. More recently, multiyear therapeutic levels of FVIII and FIX activity have been achieved in human clinical trials, translated into meaningful clinical benefit and a functional cure. While clinical progress has been definitive, many questions remain unanswered as prelicensure phase 3 clinical trials are underway. These unanswered questions translate into a state of uncertainty about the known unknowns and unknown unknowns intrinsic to any new therapeutic platform. Accepting this modality as a means to functionally cure haemophilia also means accepting the uncertainty regarding the biology of viral vector-mediated gene transfer, which remains inadequately understood. Gene therapy is a far more complex biological 'drug' than small molecule and protein drugs, where manufacturing processes and the drugs themselves are now well characterized. Extent of community acceptance of uncertainty and acknowledgement of the need for an uncompromising drive for answers to the unknowns will characterize the introduction of this first generation of gene therapy for haemophilia to the wider patient population in both resource-rich and resource-poor countries.