Ropeginterferon alfa-2b shows anti-polycythaemia vera activity without causing clinically significant anaemia

Keita Kirito; Albert Qin; Shanshan Suo; Rongfeng Fu; Daoxiang Wu; Toshiaki Sato; Oleh Zagrijtschuk; Kazuya Shimoda; Norio Komatsu; Jie Jin

doi:10.1038/s44276-024-00076-4

Ropeginterferon alfa-2b shows anti-polycythaemia vera activity without causing clinically significant anaemia

BJC Rep. 2024 Jul 11;2(1):51. doi: 10.1038/s44276-024-00076-4.

Authors

Keita Kirito¹, Albert Qin², Shanshan Suo³, Rongfeng Fu⁴, Daoxiang Wu⁵, Toshiaki Sato⁶, Oleh Zagrijtschuk⁷, Kazuya Shimoda⁸, Norio Komatsu^{6

9

10}, Jie Jin³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Haematology and Oncology, University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Chuo-shi, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan. kirito@yamanashi.ac.jp.
² Medical Research & Clinical Operations, PharmaEssentia Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Experimental Haematology, National Clinical Research Centre for Blood Diseases, Institute of Haematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, 300020, China.
⁵ PharmaEssentia Biotech (Beijing) Limited, Beijing, China.
⁶ PharmaEssentia Japan K.K, Akasaka Centre Building 12F, 1‑3‑13 Moto‑akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 107-0051, Japan.
⁷ PharmaEssentia USA, Burlington, MA, USA.
⁸ Division of Haematology, Diabetes and Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, 5200 Kihara, Kiyotake‑cho, Miyazaki‑city, Miyazaki, 889‑1692, Japan.
⁹ Department of Haematology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421, Japan.
¹⁰ Department of Advanced Haematology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421, Japan.

Abstract

Anaemia could develop in polycythemia vera (PV) due to phlebotomy-caused iron-deficiency and cytotoxic effect of cytoreductive therapy. Ropeginterferon alfa-2b treatment was not associated with ≥grade 3 anaemia in two recent clinical studies of 78 patients with PV. Only four cases of grade 2 anaemias occurred, the anaemia resolved. The mean haemoglobin levels were above 120.0 g/L. Therefore, ropeginterferon alfa-2b treatment does not lead to clinically significant anaemia and appears to manage PV without affecting normal erythropoiesis. “Both trials were registered at clinicaltrials.gov (A19-201: NCT04182100; A20-202: NCT05485948)”.

Publication types

Letter