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Hoxworth Blood Center » Donor Info » Donor & Recipient Profiles
"Donating is a free and easy way to give back. I have always believed that we should do more to help out our fellow humans."
"It's a comforting feeling knowing that someone here in our community is going to get this blood that will save or extend their life."
"Donating blood is everything. It really can give the person receiving it peace of mind. I rely on blood, so not to have it is scary."
"I would not be here and would not have survived the (double lung) transplant if not for the available blood."
"I know first-hand, it will save or impact someone's life and I get a thrill because of that," he says. "Just knowing I'm making a difference is what this is all about."
Lauren Coronado
"To those that donate, I would like to say thank you—and to think about the lives you can save from just one single donation!"
"Blood donation is one of the most selfless acts of kindness anyone can give and it saves lives. Blood donors are real-life superheroes—just like Cohen!"
"There are many heroes with no capes walking around us every day saving lives with their donations. Many underestimate that this simple act of kindness they do actually saves a life!"
Dr. Jose Cancelas
"It is heartbreaking when one receives a call indicating we are short of blood or platelets for patients in need in our community, and feel impotence. All my medical knowledge is useless in situations of short supply. I want to contribute to prevent these situations of seasonal shortage…there is no substitute for blood donations."
Journey Williams
"Without these transfusions of blood that is her exact type, I know that my daughter would not be here," says Journey's mother, DeShawna. "I'm extremely thankful that this lifesaving treatment is available to us."
No one ever expects a diagnosis of cancer, but imagine learning that you've been living with an aggressive form of leukemia for two years without knowing.
"I cannot thank blood donors enough for saving my life!"
Noah Mattingly is just seven years old, but has already faced cancer head-on not just once, not twice, but three times. His family and supporters refer to him as "Super Noah"--but any superhero occasionally needs help from others to overcome adversity. For Noah, and his fight against cancer, those helpers are his friends, family, and the lifesaving blood donors right here in his community.
"Donating with Hoxworth means that someone local will be receiving my blood, or in this case, plasma. It feels amazing being able to give back during a pandemic that affects everyone, but it feels even more amazing that I'm helping someone right here in my community."
"When I carry in a cooler or two of blood, it is clear where it is going and the reach that it will have. I know that I am oversimplifying this, but it is a gift to do the math—each donation can save up to 3 lives and each cooler can contain 30-35 donations. It's impossible not to be grateful to have even a small role in the power of those numbers."
"There isn't a word that I have found to express my deep, sincere appreciation for this seemingly 'simple' gift. Your donation allows people to celebrate birthdays, to be there for their families, to live their lives."
Deb Cook, COVID-19 Survivor
"I feel the plasma saved my life and intend to donate my own plasma as soon as I'm able," she says. "I would encourage anyone that has the antibodies to donate, because you could save another person like someone saved me. And to the person that donated for me—thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your blood saved my life!
Emma Gooch
"During each round of chemotherapy, Emma's blood counts would drop. Without blood product transfusions, our little Emma would not be able to have this fighting chance at life!"
Alle Foster
"You have no idea how much receiving blood changes your life until you need it and receive it. I am so fortunate to have been able to receive blood from the local supply."
"What you do matters. Blood transfusions SAVED Brynn's life. They save Brynn's life EACH day. We have our sweet girl with us EVERY day because of generous and selfless blood donors…and we can't wait for her to continue to show this world what she's made of."
Convalescent Plasma for COVID-19
"I just want to help people. We know there's a chance that this treatment could work—and if the patient has no other choice, why not? There's nothing to lose but just an hour of our time."
"I survived a very traumatic episode with what has been a long, challenging recovery; however, my lingering thoughts focus not on that but on the blood donors – the people who voluntarily shared their own life's blood with me."
Livi might only be nine years old, but lifesaving already runs her veins.
"I felt like an entirely new person after the transfusion and I am so grateful that it is something I was able to receive when I desperately needed it."
Noah Stepaniak's Survival
"Once I was able to grasp everything that was happening and was able to realize all of the amazing people and blood product that was able to save his life, I knew it was now our turn to show our gratitude and help replenish the blood product that was used to save Noah's life, in hopes to save others."
"In Judaism, there is no good deed greater than that of saving a human life. This is exactly what those blood donors did during Leora's Mitzvah Day. What a beautiful way to mark Leora's bat mitzvah - her entrance into a Jewish adulthood that we hope will be filled with acts of loving kindness."
"Thank you for taking the time out of your day when you could be doing something else. Thank you for making blood donation a priority, a routine. Thank you for thinking of others--for people you don't even know. My little boy has a life completely unlike the one he would be having if he didn't receive blood and it is only because of blood donors."
"I want blood donors to know that I will never forget them, and that they matter. Giving blood matters. I am living proof of that. I so wish I could meet my donors and give them a hug. But I will settle for raising awareness for the need of blood donation."
"My future is much brighter and I am much more hopeful because of therapeutic apheresis. It truly has saved my life and given me relief no medicine ever has. I am able to live a normal life because of it, and be who I am instead of who PANDAS turns me into."
"Trust me as living proof, you never see it coming when you will be dependent upon these life-giving gifts from others, but when you do, you never take a drop for granted."
"I am so thankful there are amazing, selfless, lifesaving heroes out there that are willing to donate their blood. Without these donations, I wouldn't be here to celebrate life's many tiny miracles." - Heather Bennett
"The blood products I give go to real people with real problems, and sometimes they save lives. If you're healthy, I think it's an obligation. It's the right thing to do!" - Michael Brautigam
"I would not be where I am today if it weren't for blood donors and their selfless act of kindness." - Kilee Brookbank
Blood and platelet transfusions played a critical role in Maeryn's care.
"I explained to my friends and family that I've needed blood to stay alive. I told them, wouldn't you like to save lives with a simple donation?" - Julia Gardner
Madeleine Luongo received many blood transfusions during her short life--and while she was only two months old when she passed away, her family is making sure that her short life leaves a lasting impact on the community.
"The individuals that have to live with the fatal disease known as Sickle Cell need your help. We will forever be indebted to you for giving us the opportunity that some take for granted--LIFE." - Carla Howard
Maya & Bonnie Collins
Bonnie Collins is grateful to have the support of many blood and platelet donors, who were essential to keeping her daughter, Maya alive.
Julie & Jane
"My mother would not be here to fight the battle [against cancer] if she didn't have the blood transfusion at the time of her surgery." - Julie Perry
Dr. Art Pancioli
UC Physician Donates 100th Unit of Blood--And Hopes Others Will Join Him
Heidi Ely grew up believing that blood donation was just a civic duty, not a grand act of service or a reason to brag. But as an adult, she became keenly aware of the importance of donated blood--after receiving it herself.
The Rininger Family
"In a three month period, Derek received 21 units of platelets and 10 units of red blood cells, sometimes needing two or three platelet transfusions per week. These transfusions saved his life, literally." -Neil Rininger
Sammie Purtee has been donating blood for years, but learned firsthand just how crucial blood transfusions can be in an emergency situation.
Barb & Jerry Shively
A local husband and wife have made it their mission to do something good for their community by donating blood, and are encouraging others to join them.
Kaleb and Kameron Kinebrew
Kaleb Kinebrew and his twin brother Kameron need blood donors to stay alive.
"I encourage people to donate, because twenty minutes of their time could give someone years of extra time."
Six local mothers from six different families, each of whom lead very different lives, all have one significant detail in common: without blood donors, they would be dead.
Taryn and King Walker
Taryn Walker and her brother King are flourishing at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, but the siblings haven't had the easiest time getting there.
A 17-year-old Portsmouth High School senior was tragically killed in 2008 when his friend accidentally shot him in the chest with an arrow, but an annual blood drive keeps his memory and spirit of giving alive.
At just 18-months-old, Roman Fariello was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. He fought hard through six rounds of chemotherapy and one round of high dose chemotherapy that killed his bone marrow in preparation for a stem cell transplant.
Jenah Bellamy gave an incredible gift to a couple from West Africa that almost cost her life. She was a surrogate for the couple in 2012, carrying their twins when she was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital at 26 weeks for preterm labor.
Ryan was born with a rare genetic condition that, in simple terms, left him without an immune system. He has relied on blood and platelet donors to help keep him alive.
"I think donating blood or platelets is a simple way to be a good person."


As dictated by Della (with interjections from George).
We still have a lot of Amazon boxes at our house if anyone needs any.
This is a game where you spin the toilet paper roll, and it gives you a number, and you flush the toilet that number of times and randomly you get squirted.
Renewed hope for Steve's favorite sports team.
A princess game that largely does not involve strategy.
And some Christmas afternoon skiing with Tim and Teresa.
Wish we could have joined them for snowmobiling, but we were buried under a large pile of boxes.


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Forums > Other Stuff > Your Bloody Soap Box >
What's going on with race
Discussion in 'Your Bloody Soap Box' started by garage sale GT, Oct 22, 2020.
garage sale GT New Member
There are two facts which must be understood in order to grasp what is going on with race in America.
The first is that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been interpreted by most states to mean that employers had to hire the same proportion of qualified minorities as are present in the surrounding area. Colleges often choose or are required to admit a certain quota of minority applicants from the applicant pool.
The other fact is that although National Geographic revealed in its August 2019 issue the fact that almost all persons of European descent are at least 10-30% East African, some ethnicities knew it long ago and self-identify as black. Picture Greta Thunberg or Eddie Van Halen, although I don't know how those individuals identify or identified.
It is all about the fact that these ethnicities, who are European but also a bit black, can move to the big city or other areas with a lot of blacks and have an easier time getting in to colleges or getting their kids into colleges. Most colleges admit students from the surrounding area unlike schools of national renown like Harvard or Yale, so living in a heavily black area gives these ethnicities an advantage when it comes to college admissions and scholarships.
These ethnicities count towards an employer's black hiring quota, so they often get better jobs.
In the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries, all sorts of people including rural blacks moved to the city to look for work in industry and found it. Later in the 20th century, however, it became possible to get direct cash assistance from the government which may have caused many to flee low paying agricultural work in rural communities and come to the big city.
Whether or not it's because of systemic racism, some sources online claim inner city public schools in some areas graduate around 40% of their students without functional literacy skills even though they are spending roughly 5 times per student more than the amount that stopped making a difference in their standardized test scores.
The slightly black European ethnicities often favor private schools but even if they don't, public schools are committed to accommodating every student at their own talent level. They also have a stronger religious and family life and are thus the "favored blacks" for filling racial hiring quotas.
So, the big city is full of apparently qualified blacks who are apparently underemployed and wondering why life is passing them by, because some late comer European ethnicities wanted to get better access to the professional world. Meanwhile, other neighborhoods in the city have money and success.
We really should clamp down on this before some affirmative action president gets taken by surprise on a major terrorist attack, then goes nuts and starts a few useless wars trying to catch up, the debt from which may throw the country into a major recession by driving interest rates higher which CRA loan recipients won't be able to pay when they miss a few payments and their debt gets sold to some foreign country.
#1 garage sale GT, Oct 22, 2020
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DMG is a glycine receptor agonist that is thought to have anticonvulsant activity in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) – deficient seizure models. Although DMG is in popular clinical use, controlled trials to date show little anticonvulsant activity.
DMG is a normal, physiologically active nutrient found in low levels in foods such as cereal grains, seeds and meats. It is a common intermediate in cellular metabolism of choline and betaine to methionine and participates indirectly in transmethylation reactions through the oxidation of its methyl groups to formaldehyde and subsequent transfer of these one-carbon fragments to folic acid.
– increases 02 uptake in a low oxygen environment.
– is able to retard the normal increase in lactic acid in exercise.
– causes a fall in lactic acid levels after exercise in athletes.
– seems to increase the anaerobic threshold of highly trained athletes.
– can enhance both humoral and cell-mediated immunity.
– appears to be a metabolic enhancer.
– increases energy reserves of glycogen, creatinine phosphate and phospholipid in skeletal and cardiac muscle.
– stimulates cytochrome oxidase and succinate dehydrogenase activity in muscle tissue which improves metabolic pathways for energy utilization during exercise.
– allows for more rapid recovery from exercise-induced fatigue in humans and animals.
I have been unable to find any evidence for the use of this compound in Familial Shar-Pei Fever or in the prevention or treatment of amyloidosis. It is used for improvement in endurance and performance. Anecdotal accounts have DMG reducing recovery times, restoring appetite and promoting recovery from weight loss in patients with parvoviral gastroenteritis and toxemias with liver involvement.


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If you like "series" you will enjoy visiting the small town of Lumby with Gail Fraser. And, if you liked Jan Karon's Mitford, I think you will love getting to know the residents of this small town in the Pacific Northwest.
Although they do not have to be read in order, I felt like I was catching up with old friends as I started each book. There are new characters in each book, but the favorites Pam and Mark Walker are at the center of each. The series starts when Pam and Mark purchase a struggling Monastery, quit their corporate careers and begin the second part of their lives. They make friends and gain help from the local residents, as they work to make a success of their Montis Inn. The Monks who were the former residents of the Montis Inn become close friends and advisers, and are part of each of the books.
You may just laugh out loud as you read excerpts of the Lumby Lines, and learn of the antics of Hank – one of the town's most colorful residents.
Each of the characters has a unique personality…some you love immediately, and some you will grow to love. Gail Fraser used a lot of imagination in developing her characters. The series has four books, but if you are like me, you will wish there were more.
Gail included some interesting notes, recipes and ideas which would make the series fun for book clubs. These are easy reads with a bit of mystery and a bit of romance and many quirky characters.
Purchase the Lumby series by Gail Frasier and support CatholicMom.com.
I loved all those books, especially the sheriff's reports ("Moose vs. Jeep. Jeep lost.") Great stories and a good laugh too. I'm happy to see that there are 2 new ones I hadn't heard of yet! They're on my to-read list now.


On June 9th, some of the world's best extreme athletes will compete at the X Games Qualifier right here in Boise. The city is prepping for a huge event as the national spotlight will be on us.
There's a lot of information people are asking (this includes me) when it comes to the X Games and how it's going to all play out. Instead of a huge description, I gathered as much as I could and put it in one place. Thank you, Idaho Statesman for an awesome outline and schedule. Look at every detail HERE.
The X Games is an annual extreme sports event hosted, produced and broadcast by ESPN. The event happening in Boise on June 9th and 10th is a qualifier which is an invitation-only event. The top six performers in each "competition" will be given invitations to the X Games.
The X Games Qualifier in Boise will be at Rhodes Skate Park. The world class skate park under the interstate between 15th and 16th streets June 9th and 10th.
It doesn't cost anything. Just to show up at the event, there is no charge and it's open to the public.
Female and male skateboarders will be featured - more females than males and also BMX bikers. There will be a total of 62 competitors.
There isn't a lot of parking around Rhodes Skate Park but a couple of spots around the park will have reserved parking that will be free of charge (corner of Fairview Ave. and 25th Street). The best bet will be taking the shuttle. Park your car at Ann Morrison Park and take the shuttle provided by the city from both the lot and Ann Morrison Park.
The shuttle will run every 15 minutes starting at 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. on June 9 and 11:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on June 10.
For one of the days (June 10th) you can park at St. Luke's lot and in the Northwest Bank Building lot and walk to Rhodes Park. Road closures are HERE.
This is where the food trucks will be. You can grab food from them and there will be a beer garden for the 21 and over crowd.
HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL BE AT RHODES SKATE PARK?
This is an event that hasn't happened here before but based on how quickly the bleacher seats sold, the crowd is expected to be pretty bit. Plan for over 3,500 people near the park. The organizers are setting up big screens so you can see what's going on from everywhere.
IS THIS EVENT SAFE FOR FAMILIES?
You sure can. If you're not someone who wants to make your way downtown but still want to share in the pride of Boise through the X Games Qualifier event, it will be airing on ESPN.


The long-awaited final section of the Aberdeen bypass may finally open in the next week but not until imperative final safety and structural checks are carried out.
The update on one of Scotland's biggest infrastructure projects was provided by the government's secretary for transport and infrastructure Michael Matheson who told Holyrood that physical work on the final 4.5 mile stretch was complete.
But in order for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) to be finally completed in full, Matheson said examinations over the next week were necessary as the new scheduled date for opening at the end of January accelerates closer.
The transport secretary's update to Scottish politicians were part of a larger word of warning for Aberdeen Roads Limited - contractors for the project – who have been told in no uncertain terms that they could not cut corners to get the stretch of road open.
Contractors Galliford Try and Balfour Beatty were able to open a pivotal 20-mile section to motorists on 12 December after encountering a series of problems on the 36-mile bypass. One of the biggest stumbling blocks has been the Don crossing after investigations found ducts in the structure were displaced.
Construction on the project originally began in February 2015 with the first main bypass section between Parkhill and Blackdog opening last summer. Currently, only 85% of the AWPR is open to motorists after multiple setbacks like Carillion's collapse and extreme weather conditions at the start of 2018 disrupted progress.
But Matheson has warned the final section of the bypass will not open until Transport Scotland was happy that the "public purse is protected".


With so much of the staff at the San Jose Mercury News bogged down in the picayune details of murder trials, runaway dogs, the Grammys and other stories of the moment, Daniel Sneider's writing assignment is refreshingly ambitious.
Last April Sneider became the paper's first full-time foreign affairs columnist, at least in the recollection of longtime editors at the paper. Writing twice a week about how the world is knitting itself together economically -- while rogue elements simultaneously threaten to blow it apart -- Mr. Sneider has entered a relatively lonely field. His is a position no other newspaper in California can boast, and one of only a few to grace editorial pages nationally.
"I've always thought that the interest in foreign news is greater than most news organizations believe it is," said Mr. Sneider, 52, who's been a foreign correspondent for a variety of news organizations for nearly 30 years and most recently the Mercury News' national and foreign editor. His mantra is that that the economy and social life of Northern California is intimately entwined with the Pacific Rim through trade and immigration. We ignore foreign affairs at our own peril.
The Mercury News has never been one of the nation's biggest players in overseas reporting, but in 1986 it won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the corruption under the Marcos regime in the Philippines.
The paper has just two staff foreign correspondents and a handful of others who work for Knight Ridder, the corporate chain to which the paper belongs. Two other Kight Ridder correspondents, Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Andrés Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald, also write foreign-affairs columns.
Mr. Sneider's appearance on the editorial page seems aimed at helping to raise the profile of the Mercury News as a serious source of information and opinion about world affairs.
"The initiation of Dan Sneider's column is noteworthy because it's so rare," said Jim Bettinger, director of the John S. Knight professional journalism fellowships at Stanford, and a former city editor at the Mercury News.
"My sense is that when newspapers today start columns, they're more often than not local -- sometimes resolutely 'local,' as in they can't deal with anything that happens outside the city limits. The Mercury News' decision to start this is recognition that what happens overseas is of great importance, directly and indirectly, to the people who read the Mercury News."
The reason for the column, Mr. Sneider said, is to define what's important in the world from a West Coast point of view. He sees China, not the Middle East, as the big story of the 21st century, and considers all of Europe to be "Old Europe."
Recent columns grapple with what's on everyone's lips -- namely the Bush administration's debunked claims on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. But Mr. Sneider is always searching for a new issue that columnists Thomas Friedman at the New York Times and Jim Hoagland at the Washington Post have overlooked. He writes a lot about nuclear proliferation. Mr. Sneider's other major topic, economic globalization, is perpetually apropos. His dispatches from India, where American companies are out-sourcing technology jobs for a fraction of the cost, drive the point home to San Jose.
"Here in Silicon Valley, we understand that we live in a globalized economy," Mr. Sneider said in an interview from his corner of the windowless offices of the Mercury News' editorial board. "National security is not just a matter of guns and bombs, or even terrorism. The rise of China as an economic power poses all sorts of other issues for us. I think the East Coast media tend to focus overly on very narrow definitions of national security. They neglect economics. They neglect globalization for the most part."
Mr. Sneider stands a chance of being heard in Washington. His columns are syndicated to 400 newspapers over the Knight Ridder/Tribune wire service.
Larry Jinks, who served as editor of the Mercury News and later, until 1994, as its publisher, said Mr. Sneider's column is an important addition to the paper.
He said it partly made up for Knight Ridder's decision to absorb the Mercury News' bureaus in Mexico City and Tokyo, leaving the paper itself only one roving correspondent and a bureau based in Vietnam. But he understood the motivation behind the consolidation -- other papers in the chain felt left out. "It's always a kind of a problem for papers that didn't have foreign correspondents to feel they have a special relationship with the bureaus," Mr. Jinks said.
The son of a foreign service officer, Mr. Sneider grew up mostly in Japan and Pakistan. He spent much of his early career traipsing around Southeast Asia, and got as far west at the Caucuses. He was the Tokyo, Moscow and then San Francisco bureau chief for the Christian Science Monitor, before joining the Mercury News in 1997.
So Mr. Sneider had been reporting international news long before it slammed back into the American consciousness on Sept. 11, 2001. And he's been in the field long enough to experience the frustration of seeing editors above him drop front page emphasis on news from a country as soon as it ceases to be a flashpoint. That happened with Afghanistan, he said, when American war activities died down there. Mr. Sneider, however, was able to keep the story alive on inside pages.
Mr. Sneider is particularly haunted by the threats of nuclear war and terrorism. That's why he keeps writing about the critical role of the United States in finding a solution to the diplomatic crisis with North Korea, which has declared that it's been building a nuclear bomb.
That's also why Mr. Sneider recently cautioned the Bush administration that it ought to pay more attention to "rogue allies" such as Pakistan, which has admitted its senior nuclear scientist has been sharing nuclear technology far and wide.
He intends to travel about six times a year. With luck, Mr. Sneider heads next to Iran. He had planned a 10-day trip before the Ministry of Islamic Guidance last month barred more than 8,000 candidates from competing in the upcoming elections. But he doesn't know if he'll be able to go. The ministry is also charged with giving journalists travel permits.
He hopes to write about the interaction between Islamic belief and democracy, the Iranian nuclear program and how average Iranians perceive Americans.
"I think it's important that Americans understand what other people think of us," Mr. Sneider said. "When I go out and travel, one of the things I always try and do is to turn the telescope around. Here's what Indians are saying about United States foreign policy. Here's what Koreans are saying. Here's what Indonesians are saying.
"Everywhere I go I write those columns, and I find that sometimes people get irritated by that. Of course they don't like what they hear. Sometimes I don't like what I hear, but my point is you need to understand what people are thinking. It's not an 'agree' or 'disagree' question. It's an understanding question. You can't possibly act in this world if you think that it doesn't matter what other people think."


Shane Wilson also has some excellent free pages for Irish Directories and he has created a searchable Directories Database too.
However, you may also find a few directories available for FREE on-line in a number of guises (see below.) They may not be indexed to search like those on FMP, but with a bit of dexterity with the text search function or even just settling down for a good read, you may find much buried in their pages to help you paint a picture of late Georgian and Victorian business life in Ireland.


The U.S. Senate voted early Saturday to block the USA Freedom Act, legislation that aimed to put an end to the bulk collection of telephone records by the National Security Agency.
The USA Freedom Act was blocked by the Senate in a 57-42 vote, falling three votes short of the 60-vote threshold required to proceed, while the bid to extend the Patriot Act provisions, proposed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, also failed to cross that threshold.
The National Security Agency headquarters is in Fort Meade, Maryland.


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FDA Approves Adult-Onset Still's Disease Treatment
Kenny Walter
Canakinumab was previously approved for the treatment of Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved canakinumab (Ilaris) injections for the treatment of Active Still's disease, including Adult-Onset Still's Disease (AOSD).
The FDA previously approved the treatment for Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (SJIA) in patients at least 2 years.
Adult-Onset Still's Disease is a rare and serious autoinflammatory disease without a known origin. Autoinflammatory disease are caused by abnormalities of the immune system that trigger an inflammatory response that can damage the body's own tissues.
In AOSD, there is significant overlap with SJIA, including fever arthritis, rash and elevated markers for inflammation.
There is a well-established role in the 2 diseases of interleukin-1 (IL-1), a type of cytokine important in regulating the immune system.
Canakinumab blocks the effects of IL-1 and suppresses inflammation in patients with the autoinflammatory disorders.
The FDA approval is based on well-established safety and efficacy of the drug in AOSD using comparable pharmacokinetic exposure and extrapolation of established efficacy of canakinumab in patients with SJIA, as well as the safety of canakinumab in patients with AOSD and other diseases.
Some common side effects include colds and upper respiratory tract infections, abdominal pain, and injection-site reactions. The prescribing information includes a warning for potential increased risk of serious infections because of IL-1 blockades.
Treatment with immunosuppressants may increase the risk of malignancies. Patients are advised not to receive live vaccinations during treatment. Macrophage activation syndrome is also a life-threatening risk for patients with rheumatic conditions.
"Prior to today's approval, patients had no FDA-approved treatments for their disease, which can include symptoms such as painful arthritis, fevers and rash," Nikolay Nikolov, MD, acting director of the Division of Rheumatology and Transplant Medicine in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. "Today's approval provides patients with a treatment option."
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