Novartis blood cancer hope
pharmafile | December 12, 2012 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Jakavi, Novartis, oncology
Two-year data from Novartis’s drug Jakavi suggests that it may improve overall survival in a rare form of cancer versus the best available therapy, the firm says.
Approved in Europe in August, the drug is a major step forward in treating myelofibrosis, which tends to kill sufferers in five years or so.
It could also be a lucrative one for Novartis, with analysts expecting peak sales in the US to reach $600 million and around $350 million in the rest of the world.
One of the blood cancer’s main effects is enlargement of the spleen – or splenomegaly – and Novartis’ follow-ups from the Phase III COMFORT-I and COMFORT-II trials suggest Jakavi (INC424, ruxolitinib) sustained reductions in spleen size.
The JAK 1 and JAK 2 inhibitor can be used for the treatment of disease-related splenomegaly or symptoms in adult patients with one of several different types of myelofibrosis.
Myelofibrosis develops when the production of blood cells goes awry, causing bone marrow scarring and faulty blood cell production, resulting in these severe complications.
Jakavi targets the disease’s underlying mechanism – the signalling in the JAK pathway which regulates blood cell production.
In results presented at the 54th American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Atlanta, 48.3% of patients treated with Jakavi in COMFORT-II achieved a >=35% reduction in spleen volume, with most reductions sustained with treatment over two years.
Jakavi-treated patients also showed an overall survival advantage compared to patients receiving best-available therapy – defined as any commercially available agent or no therapy at all.
In COMFORT-I, 83% of patients on Jakavi survived at the 102 week follow-up period, compared to 73% of patients on placebo.
“We are encouraged by these findings and look forward to evaluating how Jakavi may help patients with other myeloproliferative neoplasms associated with a similar mechanism of disease,” said Hervé Hoppenot, president of Novartis Oncology.
In Europe Jakavi has been approved to treat symptoms in adults with primary myelofibrosis (also known as chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis), post-polycythemia vera myelofibrosis or post-essential thrombocythemia myelofibrosis.
Adam Hill
Related Content
Novartis receives SMC approval for early breast cancer treatment
Novartis has announced that its treatment for early breast cancer, Kisqali (ribociclib), has received approval …
Rethinking oncology trial endpoints with generalised pairwise comparisons
For decades, oncology trials have been anchored to a familiar set of endpoints. Overall survival …
Pharma&’s ovarian cancer therapy approved for use by NHS Scotland
Pharma& has announced that its treatment for ovarian cancer, Rubraca (rucaparib), has been accepted by …
