Tag Archive for: lower platelet count

What Are the Unmet Needs in Access to MPN Care?

What Are the Unmet Needs in Access to MPN Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Which areas of MPN care still need improvements to access? MPN expert Dr. Claire Harrison from Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital in London explains patients who still experience barriers to care and what can be done to reduce access issues.

See More from Best MPN Care No Matter Where You Live

Related Resources:

How Can MPN Patients Stay Up to Date With New Treatments?

MPN Treatment Strategies for Patients Who Have Failed Traditional Therapies

Advice for Hesitant MPN Clinical Trial Participants


Transcript:

Dr. Nicole Rochester: 

What would you say are the unmet needs in access related to MPN and care, specifically as it relates to clinical trials, and what can we do to address those unmet needs?

Dr. Claire Harrison: 

Well, I think there is a problem with rare diseases in terms of geographical access to trials, and we often find patients have to travel a long way. I know that’s true in North America as well as in Europe. And we’re very lucky in our geographical locations, but in some parts of the world, some companies or doing not open clinical trials, so I think there’s an access issue. 

I think also there is something about patients have to meet rigid entry criteria for clinical trials, and so oftentimes in myelofibrosis, for example, commonly patients who fail ruxolitinib (Jakafi) have a lower platelet count, and that is often an exclusion criteria. Those criteria are there to try to get a uniform population of patients in a trial, but it can feel like you’re excluded as a patient, and it can feel very tough and for your health care team that we can’t include you in a clinical trial. We also have to remember that it is there for safety purposes, so if there is a lower limit for platelet count, that’s often because the drug might affect platelet count. It is really important that we have a broad spectrum of trials available and that we try to increase the availability of trials for patients. 

I also want to say a word about inequality of access and thinking about accessing some different ethnicity, so often non-white MPN patients are under-represented in clinical trials, and I know that a focus in the UK and also in North America as well. And it is really important that patients have access to a clinical trial if they need it, and also that we understand how investigational products will work in people of different backgrounds. So for example, we know that probably, Nicole, your blood count assuming it’s a healthy, normal blood count may well be different from mine for background, racial genetic differences, so drug metabolism might be different, so this is really important, and we need to work hard as a community, the clinical community and the patient community to raise awareness and improve access for patients. 

Dr. Nicole Rochester: 

Well, as someone who does a lot of work in health equity, Dr. Harrison, I really appreciate you pointing that out. It’s certainly an issue here in the United States, as you mentioned, differential access to clinical trials, and we’ve learned that not only our patients, often not aware, but often the providers, at least here in the U.S., are not offering clinical trials as an option for patients from marginalized and minoritized communities. So I really appreciate you bringing that up.