Challenges Remain in the Treatment Landscape for Myelofibrosis

Ruben Mesa, MD, director of the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the current challenges in the treatment landscape for researchers treating myelofibrosis (MF) and how a greater understanding of why patients relapse will help investigators overcome these challenges.

There are many challenges that still remain, Mesa says. There are therapies for patients with MF that are active, but they are not curative. Investigators aim to better deepen and lengthen the responses with treatment, and they have been largely looking at single agents and what combinations can create incremental benefit.

Mesa says we still do not fully understand why patients with MF progress, but once that is understood, we will be in a better situation to monitor any surrogate endpoints in terms of smaller studies and helping to sort through what can also be a very busy field of second-line studies. We can also aim to improve the progression-free survival rate among patients with myelofibrosis.

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