Tajuana Bradley:
Today’s session on myelofibrosis was really, really awesome. We really got to see how our approach to MF has really changed in the last several decades. We've now gone to a more personalized approach where we're able to use some of these risk assessment models, and I was really reminded by that in this session where we can really stratify our patients.
What we realize in MF is not all patients' disease behaves the same way. And so, I was really fortunate to be able to hear that. And then thinking about SIMPLIFY 1 and 2, these are two trials, phase 3 trials, that looked at the use of momelotinib versus BAT or vs ruxolitinib, which has been a long-term backbone in MF.
What was really impressive to me was the transfusion independence. A lot of our patients, when it comes to quality of life and thinking about the need for blood support, we were able to see that there was a benefit in terms of transfusion independence in these patients, having better responses and being able to treat that anemia, which really does impact and improve their quality of life.
In today's session, we saw really the importance and the emphasis on patient preferences, particularly regarding treatment decisions. We know that patients' involvements and their preferences really can make a big impact on how well they do in their overall performance.
As we think about the emphasis on patient preferences, we know that patient's involvement and what they want and what they desire for their treatment goals has really changed for us. I think for me, when I'm thinking about some of the cytopenias that they talked about in today's session and really how that can inform us about our therapeutic approach being that now we're actually looking at MF and deciding do I give this treatment and I look at this patient and decide they have anemia or thrombocytopenia, knowing that we actually have therapeutic options that can tailor to both of those cytopenias, I think is pretty impressive and really impactful for our practice and being able to implement that in our day-to-day workflow and clinic flow. This is game-changing for us, and again, it's a wonderful step forward in the space for myelofibrosis.
Risk stratification really does help us to tailor our treatment approach for these patients. Also, while considering the patient's preference, we know that MF can be kind of a nuanced kind of disease state. We're able to think about our patients and have patient-centered care as our focus, that's going to be a major step forward to helping these patients.
As expected with many of our therapies, we know that there will be some side effects, and diarrhea is pretty common to what we do. I think with careful monitoring, as they mentioned in today's session, patient education and supportive care, we really can help these patients mitigate that diarrhea and really hopefully enhance their overall experience while on therapies. Otherwise, we know that we could possibly lose those patients.
