Kathleen Johnson, holder of the William A. and Josephine A. Heeres Chair in Community Pharmacy, led the working session of the Hemophilia Utilization Group Study meeting held at the USC School of Pharmacy on Feb. 28-29.

The primary objective of the study is to prospectively examine the cost and burden of illness in patients with hemophilia.

Participating in the study are representatives from health care centers that treat patients with hemophilia. The representatives are collecting data on quality of life and economic impact of the disease on patients. The study also examines the impact of the disease on society as a whole.

Attendees at the meeting included representatives from hemophilia treatment sites at Indiana Hemophilia & Thrombosis Center, Children's Hospital of Orange County, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, University of Texas at Houston (Gulf States Hemophilia and Thrombophilia Center), University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital (New England Hemophilia Center) and University of Colorado at Denver (Mountain States Regional Hemophilia & Thrombosis Center).

The School of Pharmacy Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Economics & Policy is the coordinating center for the project. In addition to Johnson, who is the chair of the Titus Family Department, other USC participants include Robert Miller, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine, and Jason Doctor, associate professor at the School of Pharmacy.

The study is supported by the Aventis Behring Foundation for Research and Advancement of Patient Health, Bayer, Baxter, Novo Nordisk and Wyeth.