Hematology

Every Blood Disorder Has Its Own Hard Endpoint.

Regulatory and CMC strategy across classical and malignant hematology — from hemophilia and sickle cell to the one-time gene therapies rewriting them.

Two hematologies, one craft

Classical and Malignant Hematology Are Two Regulatory Worlds.

Malignant hematology — leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma — is reviewed by the Oncology Center of Excellence, with MRD, response, and survival endpoints and the accelerated-approval bargain that goes with them. Classical hematology is a different discipline entirely: chronic, often genetic bleeding and red-cell disorders judged on function, bleeds, and transfusion burden.

Both live under CBER and CDER depending on modality, and the newest therapies — CRISPR-edited cells for sickle cell, AAV gene therapy for hemophilia — sit at the intersection of rare disease, advanced modality, and lifelong follow-up. We build the right program for the right blood disorder, not a generic one.

Laboratory technician processing blood samples in a centrifuge
Function, not tumor

Classical hematology is measured in factor activity, bleeds, and transfusions — endpoints the review division reads very differently from oncology's.

The endpoint is the program

In Hematology, the Disease Dictates the Endpoint — and the Endpoint Dictates Everything.

There is no universal hematology endpoint. Each disorder has a measure the FDA has come to expect, and getting it wrong — or failing to pre-agree the definition — is where programs unravel.

Disorder
Hard endpoint
What approval looks like
Hemophilia A & BFactor VIII / IX deficiency
Annualized Bleeding Rate
A durable reduction in treated bleeds versus prior prophylaxis — with factor-activity and durability data the division can project forward.
Sickle Cell DiseaseVaso-occlusive disease
Vaso-Occlusive Crises
Freedom from — or a marked reduction in — severe VOC events, the endpoint behind the first CRISPR and lentiviral approvals.
Beta-ThalassemiaTransfusion-dependent anemia
Transfusion Independence
Sustained freedom from red-cell transfusions over a defined window — a binary, unambiguous, payer-legible outcome.
Immune ThrombocytopeniaITP
Durable Platelet Response
Platelet counts held above threshold without rescue, plus a bleeding and steroid-sparing story that supports the label.
MDS & AnemiasIneffective erythropoiesis
Transfusion Reduction & Hb
Reduced transfusion burden and hemoglobin improvement, defined and powered so a modest but real effect reads clearly.
Microscopic view of red blood cells
One-time genetic medicine

CRISPR-edited and gene-addition therapies turned sickle cell and hemophilia into single-administration programs — and lifelong evidence obligations.

The cure that has to prove it lasts

Gene Therapy Rewrote Hematology — and the Follow-Up Runs for Years.

A one-time therapy that eliminates VOC events or frees a patient from factor infusions is transformative — and it moves the regulatory burden from short-term efficacy to long-term durability and safety. The FDA expects long-term follow-up measured in years, with vector-integration and malignancy monitoring built in from the pivotal trial.

We manage these programs where rare disease, advanced modality, and lifelong evidence meet — RMAT engagement, the durability argument, the CMC comparability of a living or edited product, and the payer-facing evidence a single high-value administration demands.

The hematology toolbox

Five Modalities, Five Regulatory Playbooks.

Hematology spans the full modality spectrum, and each carries its own CMC, comparability, and evidence expectations. The strategy has to fit the molecule, not the other way around.

Recombinant & plasma

Factor Replacement

Recombinant and plasma-derived clotting factors, including extended-half-life and non-factor agents — decades of precedent and a well-defined pathway.

AAV gene addition

Gene Therapy

One-time AAV therapies for hemophilia that deliver a functional gene — where durability, immunogenicity to the vector, and long-term follow-up define the file.

CRISPR / ex vivo

Gene Editing

Ex vivo edited autologous cells for sickle cell and thalassemia — the CMC and comparability of an edited cell product, plus the safety of the editing itself.

Bispecific & substitution

Non-Factor Biologics

Bispecific antibodies and factor-mimetic biologics that change the treatment paradigm — new benefit–risk and immunogenicity questions for the division.

CBER / OCE

Malignant Hematology

CAR-T, bispecifics, and small molecules for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma — reviewed as oncology, with MRD and the accelerated-approval bargain.

Plasma-derived

Blood & Plasma Products

Immunoglobulins, albumin, and plasma-derived factors under CBER — where donor safety, pathogen reduction, and supply define the regulatory work.

A one-time medicine, a lifetime of evidence

Approval Is the Beginning of the Durability Question.

When a therapy is given once and expected to work for decades, the evidence obligation does not end at launch — it stretches across the patient's life, and the payer wants to see it too.

15 yrs

of long-term follow-up is the FDA's expectation for gene therapies and edited cells — designed into the trial, not negotiated after approval.

Once

A single administration shifts the entire evidence question from short-term response to durability, safety, and long-term value.

Registries

and outcomes-based agreements make real-world durability data a regulatory and reimbursement asset — build the plan before the launch.

Where hematology programs stall

Six Failure Modes We Are Brought In to Prevent.

Almost all of them trace back to the endpoint and the follow-up.

1

An endpoint definition never pre-agreed

Bringing an ABR, VOC, or transfusion-independence definition to filing that the review division was never asked to endorse — and watching it get renegotiated at review.

2

Durability data that stops too soon

A gene-therapy dataset that reads well at one year but cannot yet answer the decades-long durability question the indication demands.

3

Wrong center, wrong playbook

Treating a classical-hematology program like oncology, or a malignant one like a benign disorder — mismatching the endpoint, the center, and the expectations.

4

Edited- or living-product CMC gaps

Comparability and potency assays for an edited autologous cell product that don't hold up between clinical and commercial manufacturing.

5

Vector immunogenicity underestimated

Pre-existing and treatment-emergent anti-AAV immunity that narrows the eligible population and complicates re-dosing — surfaced late.

6

No evidence story for the payer

A one-time, high-value therapy approved without the real-world durability and outcomes evidence that access ultimately turns on.

People who have filed across the blood disorders

Hematology Regulatory Leadership That Knows Which Endpoint Wins.

Our hematology leads have negotiated bleeding- and transfusion-based endpoints, taken gene therapies through RMAT and durability review, and worked both the CBER and the oncology sides of the blood.

Hematology regulatory scientist reviewing blood samples

"Hematology approvals are won on the endpoint. Pre-agree the definition, power for it honestly, and design the follow-up to answer the durability question before anyone asks it."

The discipline we bring across classical and malignant hematology, from factor replacement to edited cells.

ABR & bleeding endpoints VOC & transfusion independence Gene therapy & editing (RMAT) Durability & long-term follow-up CBER & plasma products Malignant hematology / OCE

Developing a Hematology Therapy? Pre-Agree the Endpoint Before You Power the Trial.

Bring senior hematology regulatory leadership in early — while the endpoint definition, modality strategy, and follow-up are still yours to design.

Senior-led. Embedded in your team. No junior hand-offs.