(Reuters) -Bristol Myers Squibb said on Friday its blockbuster drug Reblozyl in combination with another therapy failed to meet the main goal of a late-stage trial to treat anemia due to a rare bone marrow cancer.
The study did not achieve statistically significant results in helping myelofibrosis patients become free from red blood cell transfusions for any 12-week period during the first 24 weeks of treatment.
However, more patients receiving Reblozyl saw a reduction in the number of transfusions needed and an increase in hemoglobin levels, a key measure of anemia, the company said. The side effects seen in the trial were similar to those previously reported for Reblozyl.
“It is promising to see that Reblozyl led to clinically relevant improvement of anemia for patients with myelofibrosis,” said Anne Kerber, head of hematology, oncology, and cell therapy at Bristol Myers.
The company remains confident in the treatment’s potential to address unmet need, Kerber added.
The late-stage trial in myelofibrosis patients tested Reblozyl with a Janus kinase inhibitor drug, a class of medicines that works by slowing down the immune system.
Myelofibrosis is a type of cancer, in which the bone marrow becomes scarred and doesn’t produce enough healthy blood cells.
Reblozyl is already approved for certain types of anemia related to other blood disorders, including myelodysplastic syndromes and beta-thalassemia. Bristol Myers recorded $1.77 billion in global sales of Reblozyl in 2024.
Other approved treatments for myelofibrosis-associated anemia include Incyte’s Jakafi and British drugmaker GSK’s Ojjaara.
Reblozyl’s failure in the trial might be positive for Disc Medicine, as investors might look favorably at its hepcidin portfolio, given the strength of data and limited treatment options, BMO Capital Markets analysts said.
(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
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