Promacta approved for children

I didn't see this posted anywhere....it came in an email update that I get from Hematology Times:

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved eltrombopag (Promacta) to treat children age 6 and older with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) who have had an insufficient response to corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, or splenectomy.

Eltrombopag is an oral thrombopoietin receptor agonist that works by inducing the stimulation and differentiation of megakaryocytes to increase platelet production.

The drug is already FDA-approved to treat adults with ITP.

The FDA’s latest approval of eltrombopag was based on data from the phase 2 PETIT trial and the phase 3 PETIT2 trial.

“Young patients with chronic ITP who have either an insufficient response to or side effects from standard therapies have limited treatment options, making this FDA approval of eltrombopag for children 6 years and older particularly important,” said James B. Bussel, MD, a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and lead investigator of the PETIT study.

“Through the eltrombopag studies, one of which is the largest randomized trial ever performed in children with chronic ITP, we discovered that Promacta—a treatment that can be taken once daily by mouth and shown to be well tolerated—can manage this disorder and help these young patients.”