WASHINGTON, September 8, 2026— The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft (BESREMi®) for adults with essential thrombocythemia.
Essential thrombocythemia is a rare blood cancer that causes overproduction of platelets in the bone marrow, increasing the risk of blood clots. Very high platelet levels in the blood can also interfere with normal blood function, causing bleeding.
This approval is the first new treatment approved for essential thrombocythemia in nearly 30 years. Ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft was approved to treat polycythemia vera, another rare blood cancer, in 2021.
“People living with essential thrombocythemia face years of treatment to manage potentially serious complications such as blood clots, heart attacks and strokes," says Lore Gruenbaum, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Blood Cancer United. “With this latest FDA approval, patients now have a new option for sustained disease management.”
Ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft is given as an injection under the skin on an ongoing basis to help control blood counts.
In a clinical study, patients treated with ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft achieved a higher response rate (37.4% compared to 3.6%) than patients treated with anagrelide, another medicine approved to treat essential thrombocythemia, with responders having no bleeding or blood clots over 12 months of treatment.
Blood Cancer United provided research funding to several clinical trials that helped establish interferon's role in controlling essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera.
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