Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Awards Gold Medal to Dr. Katherine High, Gene Therapy Pioneer

In an honor reserved for only the most significant achievements in advancing children’s health, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has awarded its Gold Medal to Katherine High, MD, a gene therapy pioneer and one of the lead developers of the first in vivo gene therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Bestowed only 12 times in CHOP’s 167-year history, the Gold Medal highlights Dr. High’s groundbreaking discoveries at CHOP, which led to a gene therapy treatment for a rare form of inherited blindness and advanced gene therapy for hemophilia to late-stage testing.

CHOP-led Research Study Identifies Key Target in Treatment-Resistant Hemophilia A

Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have identified a key target that may be responsible for treatment failure in about 30% of patients with hemophilia A. The target, known as B cell activating factor (BAFF), appears to promote antibodies against and inhibitors of the missing blood clotting factor that is given to these patients to control their bleeding episodes. The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, raise the possibility of using anti-BAFF therapies, potentially in combination with immune tolerance therapies, to tame the immune response in some patients with severe hemophilia A.