Valeria Santini, MD, on Novel Drugs for Low-Risk MDS, Anemia

Dr. Santini, Chair of the Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Unit at the University of Florence, joins Blood Cancers Today at the European Hematology Association 2024 Hybrid Congress to discuss two novel drugs for patients with low-risk MDS and anemia: luspatercept and imetelstat.

“We only had erythropoietin-stimulating agents until now,” Dr. Santini began. “Now, we have the approval of luspatercept for patients who are transfusion dependent without ring sideroblasts. The great news is that you can use it in the first line.”

First-line treatment with luspatercept leads to a 60% response rate in terms of transfusion independence for 12 weeks, Dr. Santini explained. As for imetelstat, nearly 45% of patients can reach transfusion independence longer than eight weeks, and 18% have a response that lasts more than one year.

“[This] is a very important success,” Dr. Santini noted. “These two drugs are really helping us treat patients with chronic anemia. I hope that we will have [more] new drugs coming.”