Eltrombopag restores tri-lineage hematopoiesis in refractory severe aplastic anemia which can be sustained on discontinuation of drug | Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation Return to top.

Eltrombopag restores tri-lineage hematopoiesis in refractory severe aplastic anemia which can be sustained on discontinuation of drug

Journal Title: 
Blood
Primary Author: 
Desmond R
Author(s): 
Desmond R, Townsley DM, Dumitriu B, Olnes MJ, Scheinberg P, Bevans M, Parikh AR, Broder K, Calvo KR, Wu CO, Young NS, Dunbar CE
Original Publication Date: 
Tuesday, December 17, 2013

About a quarter of patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) remain pancytopenic despite immunosuppressive therapy. We have previously demonstrated that eltrombopag has efficacy in this setting with 44% (11/25) of patients having clinically significant hematologic responses. We now report safety and efficacy data on a further 18 patients and long term follow up on the entire cohort of 43 patients. The overall response rate was 17/43 (40%) at 3-4 months, including tri and bi-lineage responses. The majority of patients who remained on eltrombopag in an extension study (14/17) continued to show improvement, and 7 eventually had significant increases in neutrophil, red cell and platelet lineages. Five patients with robust near-normalization of blood counts had drug discontinued at a median of 28.5 months after entry (range 9 to 37), and all maintained stable counts a median of 13 months (range 1-15) off eltrombopag. 8 patients, including 6 non-responders and 2 responders, developed new cytogenetic abnormalities on eltrombopag, including 5 with chromosome 7 loss or partial deletion. None evolved to acute myeloid leukemia to date. Eltrombopag is efficacious in a subset of patients with aplastic anemia refractory to IST, with frequent multilineage responses, and maintenance of normalized hematopoiesis off treatment. This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT00922883.

Bone Marrow Disease(s): 
  • aplastic anemia
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