What Is an Inhibitor?

What Is an Inhibitor?

An inhibitor is an antibody that prevents clotting factor concentrates from clotting the blood to stop bleeding.

People with hemophilia and many with the most severe type of VWD, known as type 3, use treatment products called blood clotting factor concentrates (known as “factor”) to help blood to clot properly. This is typically done by injecting factor into a person’s vein or under the skin. When a person develops an inhibitor, the body thinks the factor is a foreign substance and tries to destroy it with an inhibitor. The inhibitor keeps the treatment from working, which makes it more difficult to stop bleeding.