The Hemophilia Center of Western Pennsylvania (HCWP) has actively participated in research for over 30 years. Collectively, Dr Ragni, Dr. Seaman, Dr. Xavier, Dr. Ritchey and Dr. Cooper and their team of research nurse coordinators have well over five decades of research experience. There is a wide range of research opportunities for patients with bleeding disorders from simple observational studies (non-drug, data collection only) to NIH and pharmaceutical-sponsored new drug trials (from phase I to phase III) and even gene therapy.
If patients are not sure where to start, we suggest reviewing the research registry and repository. This study allows the Center to use de-identified clinical information and blood samples for research purposes. It enables center staff to contact patients to see if they might be interested in new research studies.
We also offer a wide variety of pharmaceutical-sponsored research drug studies, including long acting factor VIII, factor IX and recombinant human von Willebrand Factor, gene therapy and some new drugs that are given subcutaneously (sc) once monthly (under the skin) instead of intravenously (IV) several times a week.
HCWP was incorporated in 1972 as a PA state-sponsored hemophilia treatment center. Research had its modest beginnings in the 1970s when Dr. Lewis, the Center’s first medical director, established the coagulation laboratory and developed coagulation tests to diagnose congenital and acquired bleeding and clotting disorders.
When Dr. Ragni joined the HCWP team in the early 1980s and became the Director in 1988, she collaborated in a national hepatitis B vaccine trial in hemophilic children. She also recognized the first cases of HIV infection in a wife and child of a hemophilic patient, and began to study the natural history of HIV and later participated in the first antiretroviral agent clinical trials through the (ACTG) in hemophilia, sponsored jointly by NIH and NHF. She also set up hepatitis C and HIV prospective cohort studies, and a subsequent hepatitis C transplant study. She also conducted early trials of recombinant FVIII and FIX, and subsequent studies of long-acting factor VIII and IX, along with gene therapy studies.
Current NIH-funded research focuses on optimal prophylaxis in children with hemophilia, prevention of inhibitor formation, establishing a national liver transplant registry, and optimizing gene therapy trials.
Together, our experienced research team, sponsors, and patients can work together and contribute towards finding better treatments for those with bleeding disorders!
Click here for an overview of general research and terminology.
If you would like to see our center’s specific research studies, click on the following link: All currently recruiting bleeding disorders studies.
Please contact a Center's research nurse if you are interested in participating in a study.