At the 2026 Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) Annual Meeting, CancerNetwork® spoke with Naseema Gangat, MBBS, about the use of DISC-0974, an investigational monoclonal antibody, as a therapeutic strategy for mitigating anemia in patients with myelofibrosis. She spoke in the context of findings from the phase 2 RALLY-MF study (NCT05320198), which she presented at the meeting.
Gangat, a professor of medicine and a consultant in hematology at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, said that DISC-0974 is a “versatile” agent based on its ability to elicit responses regardless of whether patients have received prior JAK inhibitors. Considering how the agent may demonstrate utility as monotherapy or in combination with other agents, she said the agent occupies a “unique position” in the myelofibrosis field.
Transcript:
CancerNetwork: In RALLY-MF, DISC-0974 showed meaningful hemoglobin increases in both patients with JAK-inhibitor-treated and untreated myelofibrosis with anemia. How significant is it that this worked regardless of concurrent JAK inhibitor use, given how limited anemia management options are in myelofibrosis?
This is a fairly significant finding because half of our cohort was on JAK inhibitor therapy and half was not. The major anemia response rates were virtually identical. This suggests that the drug is a very versatile agent. It is able to be efficacious regardless of JAK inhibitor use. In terms of specific JAK inhibitors, we did not see any particular difference in terms of improved responses, so the responses held across whether the patients were on ruxolitinib [Jakafi] vs momelotinib [Ojjaara] or pacritinib [Vonjo].
Anemia is one of the most common reasons patients discontinue or dose-reduce ruxolitinib. Do you see an agent like DISC-0974 as something that could let patients stay on their JAK inhibitor longer, rather than as a standalone therapy?
DISC-0974 has a unique position in the treatment landscape of myelofibrosis because it can be used as a monotherapy or along with concomitant JAK inhibitor therapy. There are no drug-drug interactions, and it would enable us to optimize the use of ruxolitinib in particular because that has dose-limiting toxicity, anemia, for the agent.
Reference
Gangat N, Tefferi A, Hexner E, et al. RALLY-MF: initial efficacy of a phase 2 study of DISC-0974, an anti-hemokuvelin antibody, to treat anemia in myelofibrosis. Presented at: 2026 Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO) Annual Meeting; September 9-12, 2026; Houston, TX. Abstract MPN-099.
