The results of an international study entitled COMMANDS, of which Vilnius University Hospital (VUH) Santaros Clinics was a participating centre, have been published in The Lancet, one of the world’s most influential academic journals. The efficacy of new therapy for treating transfusion-dependent anaemia patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and rare blood cancers that affect around 150 people in Lithuania every year was tested.
“The traditional therapy for treating anaemia in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (erythropoietin) is unfortunately ineffective in about 30% of cases and has a limited effect over time in another 30% of patients. After 40 years of research, this study has demonstrated the effectiveness of a new drug, luspatercept, both in terms of increased response rate and duration. This success reminds us the importance of investing into clinical research and bringing these results into clinical practise to treat our patients,” Andrius Degulys, who is a haematologist and lecturer at Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine and was a principal researcher at VUH Santaros Clinics and co-author of this publication, said.
Preliminary data were presented in Chicago during the annual meeting of the American Association of Medical Oncology (ASCO) and during the congress of the European Haematology Association (EHA) in Frankfurt this year.
The full article can be read here.