Margarida Maia, PhD, science writer —

New mothers may safely take Firazyr (icatibant; generics available) to treat swelling attacks due to hereditary angioedema (HAE) and continue to breastfeed, provided they wait at least six hours after the last dose before giving their baby breast milk, a case report from Japan suggested. Icatibant’s safety in women…

Note: This story was updated June 22, 2022, to correct that the patient’s symptoms of angioedema resolved a few days after she stopped taking enalapril to treat her heart disease. A woman developed symptoms of angioedema after taking enalapril, a medicine commonly used to lower blood pressure and…

An “airway watch” via nasopharyngolaryngoscopy (NPL) may help triage patients with angioedema who will need breathing support in the intensive care unit (ICU), a study found. NPL is a procedure in which a narrow tube with a camera on its end is passed through the nose to allow doctors…

Long-term preventive (prophylactic) treatment with Haegarda is safe, decreases how often swelling attacks occur in patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE), and how often they rely on rescue medications to treat swelling attacks. These findings come from an open-label extension study (NCT02316353) of the Phase 3 COMPACT trial…

Takeda Canada has won a bid making it Héma-Québec’s sole source of Takhzyro (lanadelumab) — an approved under-the-skin treatment to prevent attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) — through at least 2024. Takhzyro is now available as a prophylaxis treatment for people with HAE in Québec, according to…

Six warning signs were present in a group of patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE) due to a deficiency in C1-inhibitor (C1-INH), as reported in a recent study from Brazil. Dubbed H4AE to assist in recalling, the warning signs are hereditary (H), recurrent angioedema (A), abdominal pain (A), absence of…

Warning symptoms, also called prodromes, may foretell where in the body and how intense an attack of hereditary angioedema (HAE) will be, a small study found. Using input from patients, researchers observed that the majority experienced a prodrome before an attack and that almost two-thirds were able to tell…

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has received funds worth $350 million that will be used in part to support the global launch of Orladeyo (berotralstat), an oral therapy to prevent hereditary angioedema (HAE) swelling attacks. The money came through various transactions with Royalty Pharma, a global buyer of pharmaceutical royalties, and…

Finger-prick blood samples taken at home could help to provide a simple and convenient way to predict acute hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks, preliminary results from the Hereditary Angioedema Kininogen Assay (HAEKA) study in Germany suggest. Samples collected during attacks over the study’s course are expected to lead to the discovery…

One in three patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE) may have an impaired sense of smell, but this does not appear to be tied to changes in the genes responsible for odor detection, a small study found. The scientists said more research is needed, in larger patient populations, to better…