Positive Phase III VERIFY results of rusfertide in PV

US clinical-stage pharma company Protagonist Therapeutics (Nasdaq: PRGX) and Japan’s Takeda (TYO: 4502) have announced positive top-line results for the Phase III VERIFY study, in which phlebotomy-dependent patients with polycythemia vera (PV), a rare blood cancer, were randomized to treatment with either rusfertide or placebo, as an add-on to standard of care treatment.

The study met its primary endpoint and all four key secondary endpoints. Rusfertide is a first-in-class investigational hepcidin mimetic peptide therapeutic, which has received Orphan Drug and Fast Track designations from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).