Nipocalimab for warm autoimmune haemolytic anaemia

Nipocalimab is currently in development for the treatment of adults with warm autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (wAIHA). wAIHA is a rare condition where the patient’s immune system produces harmful antibodies (proteins) which mistakenly attach to red blood cells and destroy them. Red bloods cells contain haemoglobin which carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. When a patient has wAIHA, the bone marrow tries to compensate for the broken-down red cells by making more, but with time, the level of haemoglobin drops (anaemia) quicker than they can be replaced. The condition is described as ‘warm’ because the red cell breakdown occurs at normal body temperature rather than in the cold. This can cause symptoms such as tiredness, weakness, shortness of breath, and pale or yellow skin (jaundice), caused by the products from within the red blood cells. There are currently no treatments recommended by NICE for wAIHA specifically, and existing options are often based on general treatments for AIHA and other autoimmune conditions. This highlights an unmet need for effective and targeted therapies for people living with wAIHA.