Nplate or Promacta and Myelofibrosis - Works?

My father is in the advance stages of Myelofibrosis. We've recently tried Danazol and that has not worked to get his platelets up. His doctor now wants to put him on Nplate, which is used for ITP, not Myelofibrosis, to get his platelets up. His platelets have been hovering around 9K for the past 2-3 months. The platelet infusions have not been working to get his platelets up. The ultimate goal is to get his platelets high enough so he can have a splenectomy. The splenectomy will help with the platelet production.

Has anyone heard of or had any interaction with Nplate for Myelofibrosis? I'm also reading about Promacta, which is in pill form. Is one better than the other? I'm also curious about the costs on both of these. I've seen some pretty high prices, so any feedback there would be great.

Thanks so much

Hi Jack. Has your father been diagnosed with ITP? I can't help with the Myelofibrosis as I don't know what it is, but if he is planning on the splenectomy to help with ITP, you might want to do more research. It doesn't always help. I had my spleen out two years after being diagnosed with ITP and it worked great; for a week or two, and then I was back in the low numbers again.

Hopefully you'll get some more responses.

That sounds like a really odd choice for someone with fibrosis of the bone marrow as that is one of the possible serious side effects of Nplate and Promacta. If it starts to show, the drug is immediately stopped. I would get a second opinion on that one if it were me.