Dr. Ruben Mesa Discusses ASCO 2023 Updates From the SIMPLIFY Trials in Myelofibrosis

Ruben Mesa, MD, co-director in the division of upper aerodigestive malignancies at Johns Hopkins, spoke with DocWire News at ASCO 2023 about the affect myelofibrosis has on patients’ quality of life and described results from the SIMPLIFY trials presented at the meeting.

Dr. Mesa and colleagues conducted a post-hoc analysis of the SIMPLIFY-1 and SIMPLIFY-2 trials to determine the relationship between transfusion burden and patient-reported outcomes. The study found that patients in both SIMPLIFY cohorts who had myelofibrosis and were transfusion-dependent had lower functioning and health care-related quality of life than transfusion-independent patients, “suggesting that transfusion dependence has detrimental effects on multiple aspects of quality of life.”