Momelotinib Yields Clinically Significant Improvement in Myelofibrosis

MONDAY, Feb. 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Treatment with momelotinib versus danazol yields clinically significant improvements for patients with myelofibrosis, according to a study published online Jan. 28 in The Lancet.

Srdan Verstovsek, M.D., from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues conducted a randomized phase 3 study at 107 sites across 21 countries involving adults with a confirmed diagnosis of primary myelofibrosis or post-polycythemia vera or post-essential thrombocythemia myelofibrosis. Patients were randomly assigned to receive momelotinib plus danazol placebo or danazol plus momelotinib placebo (130 and 65 patients, respectively).

The researchers found that a significantly greater proportion of patients in the momelotinib group versus the danazol group reported a 50 percent or greater reduction in total symptom score (25 versus 9 percent, respectively). Hematologic abnormalities by laboratory values were the most frequent grade 3 or higher treatment-emergent adverse events with momelotinib and danazol, including anemia (61 and 75 percent, respectively) and thrombocytopenia (28 and 26 percent, respectively). Acute kidney injury and pneumonia were the most frequent nonhematologic grade 3 or higher treatment-emergent adverse events with momelotinib and danazol (3 versus 9 percent; 2 versus 9 percent, respectively).

"These findings support the future use of momelotinib as an effective treatment in patients with myelofibrosis, especially in those with anemia," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry, including Sierra Oncology, which funded the study and sponsored momelotinib.

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