InCyte pre-leukemia drug cuts symptoms

Incyte Corp’s most advanced experimental drug, licensed last month by Swiss drugmaker Novartis A.G., helped reduce symptoms in patients with a pre- cancer known as myelofibrosis in a study. The drug, called INCB018424, shrank spleen size, limited fatigue and improved walking ability in the research, presented today at the American Society of Hematology meeting in New Orleans. Myelofibrosis, a disorder of the bone marrow that disrupts the body’s production of blood cells, can cause an enlarged spleen and fatigue, and also lead to acute leukemia. Incyte sold non-US marketing rights for the drug to Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis in a $210 million deal Nov 25. The treatment is in the third and final stage of testing generally required for US approval. Incyte, based in Wilmington, Delaware, can generate about $300 million a year from US myelofibrosis sales, said Joshua Schimmer, an analyst with Leerink Swann in New York, in a Nov 25 research note.