Robyn M. Scherber, MD, MPH, physician, The Mays Cancer Center, the newly named center of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses ruxolitinib (Jakafi) failure in patients with myelofibrosis (MF).

Ruxolitinib is currently the only FDA-approved agent for the treatment of patients with MF, so ruxolitinib failure has become a larger issue. Although patients can stay on ruxolitinib for a long time with good response, Scherber says that after 2 or 3 years, response is often lost.

Discontinuation of ruxolitinib treatment is attributed to many factors, Scherber explains. One of the issues is that ruxolitinib failure is still poorly-defined, even though multiple clinical trials have tried to define it. The COMFORT-II, JAKARTA-2, SIMPLIFY-2, and the PAC203 trials addressed ruxolitinib duration. Ruxolitinib use ranged from 14 days to 28 days to 3 months before the treatment could be considered failed, Scherber explains.

Other factors of ruxolitinib failure include spleen size and disease progression.

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Robyn M. Scherber, MD, MPH, physician, The Mays Cancer Center, the newly named center of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses ruxolitinib (Jakafi) failure in patients with myelofibrosis (MF).
 

Dr. Scherber Discusses Ruxolitinib Failure in Myelofibrosis

Robyn M. Scherber, MD, MPH, physician, The Mays Cancer Center, the newly named center of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the treatment of patients with myelofibrosis.

Scherber says that the treatment approach to myelofibrosis is 2-fold. First, risk must be assessed. Risk scoring methods such as the Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System are often used, and if the patient is early on in their course of disease, Scherber says she uses the International Prognostic Score. Once risk is determined, the treatment paradigm becomes clearer.

The other thing that is considered when choosing treatment for a patient with myelofibrosis is symptom burden. MPN10 is a 10-item assessment of symptoms with a 0 to 100 scoring system. If the collective total of the symptoms is greater than 20 out of 100, or any individual symptom is scored greater than 5, those patients may benefit from symptom-based therapy, explains Scherber.

Robyn M. Scherber, MD, MPH, physician, The Mays Cancer Center, the newly named center of UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the treatment of patients with myelofibrosis.
 

Robyn M. Scherber, MD, MPH

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Dr. Scherber Discusses Ruxolitinib Failure in Myelofibrosis

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