EMA recommends approving GSK’s oral therapy for rare blood cancer

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended approving an oral therapy to treat
myelofibrosis patients with moderate to severe anaemia.

Myelofibrosis is a rare blood cancer that affects the body’s normal production of blood cells, and the affected patients are likely to develop anaemia over the
course of the disease.

British drugmaker GSK, the manufacturer of the oral therapy known as momelotinib, said that it can be used to treat “both newly diagnosed and previously treated
myelofibrosis patients.”

The medicine helps address disease-related splenomegaly (enlarged spleen) or symptoms in adult patients who are Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor naïve or have been
treated with ruxolitinib, as stated by the company.

Nina Mojas, Senior Vice President of Oncology Global Product Strategy at GSK, said that receiving the positive CHMP opinion “is a significant step in bringing
momelotinib to patients in the EU with this difficult-to-treat blood cancer.”