Real-world impact of luspatercept on red blood cell transfusions among patients with myelodysplastic syndromes: A United States healthcare claims database study

Myelodysplastic syndromes Myelodysplastic syndromes: (my-eh-lo-diss-PLASS-tik SIN-dromez) A group of disorders where the bone marrow does not work well, and the bone marrow cells fail to make enough healthy blood cells. Myelo refers to the bone marrow. Dysplastic means abnormal growth or development. People with MDS have low blood cell count for at… (MDS) are associated with anemia anemia: (uh-NEE-mee-uh) A condition in which there is a shortage of red blood cells in the bloodstream. This causes a low red blood cell count. Symptoms of anemia are fatigue and tiredness. and the need for blood transfusions blood transfusions: A blood transfusion is a safe and common procedure. Most people who have a bone marrow failure disease like aplastic anemia, MDS or PNH will receive at least one blood transfusion. When you receive a blood transfusion, parts of blood from a donor are put into your bloodstream. This can help some… . In clinical trials clinical trials: Clinical research is at the heart of all medical advances, identifying new ways to prevent, detect or treat disease. If you have a bone marrow failure disease, you may want to consider taking part in a clinical trial, also called a research study. Understanding Clinical Trials Clinical… , luspatercept reduced transfusion dependency among patients with lower-risk MDS. This United States (US) study describes real-world clinical outcomes pre- and post-luspatercept initiation among patients with MDS. Symphony Health Integrated Dataverse claims data (August 1, 2010-December 29, 2022) were used to identify patients with MDS treated with luspatercept (first luspatercept claim = index date). Transfusion-dependent (TD) or non-TD (NTD) patients at baseline were described as 8-week transfusion-independent (TI) or as maintaining NTD, respectively, if they had no transfusion for 8 weeks in the 6 months post-index (similarly for 12, 16, and 24 weeks). Transfusion status was measured overall and among patients who were baseline NTD, TD, TD and exposed to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) (TD+ESA-exposed), MDS with ring sideroblasts (RS) (MDS-RS), and MDS-non-RS. MDS-related treatments were measured pre- and post-index. Among the 871 patients who received luspatercept (mean age: 74.7 years), 87.4 % achieved 8-week TI/maintained NTD within 6 months post-index, 64.9 % of patients did not receive additional MDS-related treatments post-luspatercept initiation (median follow-up: 14.8 months), 98.5 % of baseline NTD patients maintained 8-week NTD 6 months post-luspatercept initiation, and 88.6 % did not receive a transfusion for 24 weeks. Baseline TD (64.2 %) and TD+ESA-exposed (64.2 %) patients achieved 8-week TI 6 months post-luspatercept initiation. Eight-week TI proportions were similar between MDS-RS (89.8 %) and MDS-non-RS (84.8 %) subgroups. These findings corroborate clinical trial clinical trial: A type of research study that tests how a drug, medical device, or treatment approach works in people. There are several types of clinical trials. Treatment trials test new treatment options. Diagnostic trials test new ways to diagnose a disease. Screening trials test the best way to detect a… data by showing the high effectiveness of luspatercept among real-world patients with MDS in the US.