Dr. Cortes on Future Directions in MPNs

Jorge E. Cortes, MD, director of the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, discusses challenges with ruxolitinib (Jakafi) in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).

The field is happy to have a drug like ruxolitinib (Jakafi) because it is effective but investigators have not gotten to the genesis of the disease yet, says Cortes. Efforts are still being made to look for an approach that can change the natural history of the disease. Intriguing data have been reported with interferon, which has been shown to lower the measure of residual disease in the JAK2 mutated clone—that is very attractive, according to Cortes. New drugs are also in development. Ruxolitinib and the other JAK inhibitors continue to be valuable, but the next step is to try and eradicate the malignancy, concludes Cortes.