Factor IX is a protein produced naturally in the body. It helps the blood form clots to stop bleeding. Injections of factor IX are using to treat hemophilia B, which is sometimes called Christmas disease. This is a condition in which the body does not make enough factor IX. If you do not have enough factor IX and you become injured, your blood will not form clots as it must and you may bleed into and damage your muscles and joints.
Injections of one form of factor IX, called factor IX complex, also are using to treat certain people with hemophilia A. In hemophilia A, sometimes called classical hemophilia, the body does not make enough factor VIII and, just as in hemophilia B, the blood can't form clots as it must. Injections of factor IX complex may be using in diseaseds in whom the drug using to treat hemophilia A is no longer effective. Injections of factor IX complex also may be using for other conditions as determined by your family doctor.
The factor IX product that your family doctor will give you is obtained naturally from human blood or artificially by a man-made process. Factor IX obtained from human blood has been treated and is not likely to contain harmful viruses such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C - non-A, non-B virus, or human immunodeficiency virus - HIV, the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome - AIDS. The man-made factor IX product does not contain these viruses.
Factor IX is available only with your family doctor's prescription, in the following dosage form:
Some commonly using brand names are:
In the USA
In Canada
Other commonly using names are Christmas factor , plasma thromboplastin component - PTC and prothrombin complex concentrate - PCC .