Novartis reports positive clinical trial data for Jakavi

Novartis's Jakavi has demonstrated its safety and efficacy in new analyses of phase III clinical trials conducted by the company.

According to four separate analyses from the phase III Comfort-I and Comfort-II studies, patients with myelofibrosis initially randomised to treatment with Jakavi lived longer than those randomised to treatment with placebo or conventional therapy.

The drug was able to reduce the risk of death and maintained spleen reductions at three years compared to conventional therapy and placebo, with similar survival benefits seen in patients with and without high-risk mutations.

Analyses also revealed that Novartis' drug may increase the probability of ten-year survival of myelofibrosis patients by more than 50 percent compared to conventional therapy.

Dr Alessandro Vannucchi of the department of haematology at the University of Florence, said: "It's promising to start seeing the long-term effects of this therapy, which has changed the treatment paradigm for most patients with this life-threatening disease."

This comes after the company reported positive data earlier this month from a new study of a panobinostat/bortezomib/dexamethasone combination therapy for multiple myeloma.