Updated Results from the German Mpnsg-0212 Combination Trial: Ruxolitinib Plus Pomalidomide in Myelofibrosis with Anemia

Background: Anemia remains one cardinal symptom associated with reduced quality of life (QoL) in patients (pts) with myelofibrosis (MF) which is normally not being addressed by ruxolitinib (RUX). In our previous MPNSG-0109 trial, single-agent pomalidomide (POM) improved cytopenia in 14% (POM 0.5 mg QD) and 29% (POM 2.0 mg QD) of MF pts, respectively. In the MPNSG-0212 study, we sought to investigate the potential synergism of RUX plus POM to improve anemia and QoL in MF pts. Study Design: MPNSG-0212 is an ongoing multicenter, open-label, single-arm phase-Ib/II trial with a target population of 90 pts following a two-stage design (NCT01644110). Pts 1-40 in cohort 1 (co1) were treated with RUX (10 mg BID) plus low-dose POM (0.5 mg QD), while pts 41-90 in cohort 2 (co2) receive a step-wise dose increase of POM from 0.5 mg to 1 mg and 2 mg QD after 3 and 6 28-day-cycles, respectively. Primary endpoints are safety of the combination therapy, anemia response after 12 cycles (according to IWG-MRT and RBC transfusion independence [RBC-TI] criteria), and clinical benefit (CB) defined as stable disease plus i) hemoglobin (Hb) increase ≥1 g/dL in pts with RBC-TI or ii) doubling of RBC transfusion intervals and/or iii) significant (>25%) improvement of QoL as measured by the MPN-SAF questionnaire. Main inclusion criterion is MF with anemia (Hb 3% of pts was Hb decrease in the first weeks of treatment occurring in 25% of p