An updated analysis showed that the telomerase inhibitor Imetelstat significantly improves survival in patients with high-risk myelofibrosis whose disease relapsed or became resistant after JAK inhibitor treatment.
Researchers compared 59 IMbark patients with a matched real-world group of 54 patients treated before 2016. After nearly four years of follow-up, median overall survival reached 30.7 months with imetelstat versus 15.4 months with best available therapy, nearly doubling survival. Statistical analyses confirmed the benefit was not due to differences in patient health at baseline.
The study also found that survival outcomes for myelofibrosis patients in routine practice have improved over the past decade, largely because doctors are starting ruxolitinib earlier and moving patients to new treatments more quickly when it stops working.