Incyte Corporation reported encouraging late stage findings for the use of its drug Jakafi for patients with a rare blood condition.
The findings were published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Jakafi is currently used for treatment of a type of blood cancer, with the Wilmington-area company researching other treatment options.
The article reported that the drug aided treatment of patients with polycythemia vera (PV) who did not respond well to use a commonly used product.
Approximately 100,000 patients in the U.S. are living with PV4. Current standard treatment for PV is removal of blood from the body plus aspirin. When that therapy is no longer effective, chemotherapy is used.
.“A key challenge in treating patients with PV is the development of resistance or intolerance to currently available therapies such as hydroxyurea, which leaves us with no effective treatment options to manage the disease,” said Dr. Alessandro M. Vannucchi, department of Hematology, University of Florence, Italy and lead study author. “This study indicates that ruxolitinib (Jakafi) may represent an important advance for patients with uncontrolled PV.”
Polycythemia vera (PV) is typically characterized by elevated volume percentage of red blood cells in whole blood, which can lead to a thickening of the blood and an increased risk of blood clots, as well as an elevated white blood cell and platelet count.
About one in four patients with PV are considered uncontrolled, according to an Incyte release.
Incyte employs about 550 at its research center and headquarters just outside Wilmington.
