Novartis AG's Promacta can be used as a long-term treatment option for adults with chronic/persistent immune thrombocytopenia, or ITP, trial results showed.

ITP is a rare and potentially serious blood clotting disorder caused by low platelet count which can result in bruising, bleeding and serious hemorrhaging that can be fatal.

Majority of the patients treated with eltrombopag, which is known as Promacta in the U.S. and Revolade outside the U.S., maintained a substantial clinical response in the EXTEND trial. Meanwhile, some patients were also capable of reducing or permanently stopping one or more concomitant ITP medications without the need for rescue therapy, many of which sustained reduction for at least 24 weeks.

The most common adverse events were headache, nasopharyngitis and upper respiratory tract infection. Promacta's safety profile was consistent with previous studies.