CLINICAL NEWS
ment option) or subcutaneously on
days 1 through 5 (49%). Patients
received a median of 3.68 course of
cladribine courses, with a median
time between consecutive treatment courses of 52 days.
With respect to the study’s primary endpoint, the overall response
rate was 72 percent, with encouraging numbers for major and partial
responses, but no instances of
complete response (table 1).
These response rates were similar
to those observed in previous studies.
“However, in contrast with previous
studies, [cladribine] appeared more
efficient in indolent mastocytosis
patients than in ASM and SM-AHNMD patients (p<0.001),” Dr. Barete
and investigators noted. There was
Response
rates with
cladribine
were high,
with encouraging numbers for major
and partial
responses.
table 1. Response to Treatment with Cladribine
Overall response
Long-Term Study Finds Cladribine
Safe, Effective Across All Subtypes
of Mastocytosis
Ten-year follow-up data from
a recent retrospective study
published in Blood suggest that
cladribine is an effective and safe
treatment option for patients with
mastocytosis – a condition with
no available curative therapy.
Cladribine, a synthetic purine
analog, is one treatment option
for mastocytosis; however, because of the rarity of the disease,
there is little evidence about its
long-term safety and efficacy
in patients with the condition,
particularly for patients with
indolent mastocytosis.
In the current study, Stéphane Barete, MD, PhD, of the
Paris-Sorbonne University in
France, and colleagues analyzed
outcomes of 68 patients with
mastocytosis treated with at least
one co