A relatively unknown story of RhoGAM. A friend of mine just emailed me the link posted below, which prompted this post.
Rh disease has essentially been eradicated but until the late 1960s was one of the most severe and devastating conditions for newborns, killing approximately tens of thousands of infants a year and causing brain damage in many more.
The disease is almost completely prevented by RhoGAM, a drug developed in the 1960s by Columbia researchers John Gorman, MD, and Vincent Freda, MD, and a pharmaceutical company researcher, William Pollack, PhD
Rh disease can develop when a woman with Rh-negative blood is pregnant with an Rh-positive fetus. In these cases, when fetal red blood cells cross into the mother’s circulation—usually at delivery—the mother’s body begins producing antibodies that can attack and kill a fetus’s red blood cells. It takes some time to produce such antibodies, so the first Rh-positive child is typically spared. But each subsequent Rh-positive fetus increases the odds the mother will become “sensitized” to the fetus.
Once a woman is sensitized, her antibodies can cross the placenta to destroy the red blood cells of her fetus, which can lead to miscarriage, brain damage, or the newborn’s death.
In November 2018, at the 50th anniversary of RhoGAM, Dr. Gorman, former director of the blood bank at what is now NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, stated - “I still marvel at how a low-tech solution could have such impact”. “It’s the most cost-effective drug ever produced. There have been no fatalities in 50 years, and it saves $1 billion every year by preventing high-risk Rh pregnancies. Plus, there’s peace of mind for Rh-negative mothers. How lucky can you be?”
More details from this recent write up.
https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/101532694
Rh disease has essentially been eradicated but until the late 1960s was one of the most severe and devastating conditions for newborns, killing approximately tens of thousands of infants a year and causing brain damage in many more.
The disease is almost completely prevented by RhoGAM, a drug developed in the 1960s by Columbia researchers John Gorman, MD, and Vincent Freda, MD, and a pharmaceutical company researcher, William Pollack, PhD
Rh disease can develop when a woman with Rh-negative blood is pregnant with an Rh-positive fetus. In these cases, when fetal red blood cells cross into the mother’s circulation—usually at delivery—the mother’s body begins producing antibodies that can attack and kill a fetus’s red blood cells. It takes some time to produce such antibodies, so the first Rh-positive child is typically spared. But each subsequent Rh-positive fetus increases the odds the mother will become “sensitized” to the fetus.
Once a woman is sensitized, her antibodies can cross the placenta to destroy the red blood cells of her fetus, which can lead to miscarriage, brain damage, or the newborn’s death.
In November 2018, at the 50th anniversary of RhoGAM, Dr. Gorman, former director of the blood bank at what is now NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, stated - “I still marvel at how a low-tech solution could have such impact”. “It’s the most cost-effective drug ever produced. There have been no fatalities in 50 years, and it saves $1 billion every year by preventing high-risk Rh pregnancies. Plus, there’s peace of mind for Rh-negative mothers. How lucky can you be?”
More details from this recent write up.
https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/101532694
