Promacta helps patients manage bleeding disorder, GSK study shows

LONDON Patients who received a GlaxoSmithKline drug for chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura over a six-month period experienced significantly increased platelet counts and reduced bleeding, GSK announced Saturday.

The British drug maker presented data Saturday from RAISE, a phase 3 study of the drug Promacta, also known as Revolade (eltrombopag). Data from the study were presented at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, which ends Tuesday.

GSK said patients receiving the drug were eight times more likely than those using placebo to sustain elevated platelet counts.

The Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to the drug Nov. 20 for treating chronic ITP, a disorder resulting from deficient platelets in the bloodstream, which causes an increased risk of bleeding.

About 60,000 people in the United States have the disease.

“Eltrombopag is the first approved agent to show that generating platelets can be achieved and maintained with an oral therapy,” GSK senior vice president of oncology research and development Paolo Paoletti said in a statement. “With the continued emergence of GSK in oncology, we want patients and physicians to continuously benefit from our dedication to developing truly innovative treatments that can help improve patients’ lives.”