FDA approves rare blood disorder drug Jakafi to treat Polycythemia vera

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given green signal to polycythemia vera treating drug, Jakafi (Ruxolitinib), which is manufactured by Incyte.

The drug is a targeted kinase inhibitor that offers a required option for those people who are affected with polycythemia vera, a serious blood disorder.

Polycythemia vera, a type of myeloproliferative disease, is considered to be a very rare ailment. It affects about 50 in 100,000 in the United States. In simpler terms, 1 in 2,000 adults is affected by the disease.

Men are mostly hit by the disease in comparison to women. Eledery people are at higher risk of developing the blood disorder with two-thirds becoming evident after age 50 years.

Some of the common symptoms of Polycythemia vera include: Tiredness, Itching, Muscle aches, Sweating, Blurred vision or blind spots, Painful burning of the hands or feet, Bleeding from the gums and heavy bleeding from small cuts, Bone pain and Painful swelling in the big toe (a condition called “gouty arthritis”).

This is the first time when the health regulating body has given its nod to a drug for p. vera. Patients affected with the health condition typically possess high numbers of red blood cells (RBCs). The blood of the patients runs thick, which put them at higher risk of suffering from blood clots, stroke, and also bleeding in some cases. Some also develop an enlarged spleen that can be painful and disfiguring.