PHARMAESSENTIA’S BESREMI (ROPEGINTERFERON ALFA-2B-NJFT) NOW RECOMMENDED AS A PREFERRED FIRST-LINE CYTOREDUCTIVE THERAPY FOR POLYCYTHEMIA VERA IN UPDATED NCCN CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES IN ONCOLOGY (NCCN GUIDELINES)

Update based on NCCN’s determination of superior efficacy, safety and evidence for BESREMi in high and low-risk patients, reflecting an ongoing shift in PV care toward earlier intervention

February 27, 2024, Burlington, MA – PharmaEssentia USA Corporation, a subsidiary of PharmaEssentia Corporation (TWSE: 6446), a global biopharmaceutical innovator based in Taiwan leveraging deep expertise and proven scientific principles to deliver new biologics in hematology and oncology, today announced that the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) have recently been updated to include ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft, marketed as BESREMi®, as a preferred first-line cytoreductive therapy option for the treatment of adults with symptomatic, low-risk polycythemia vera (PV). Ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft is the only preferred therapeutic option for both high-risk and low-risk (symptomatic) PV regardless of treatment history.

“The recent update to the NCCN Guidelines® reflects the ongoing shift in PV care towards earlier intervention, focusing on long-term patient health,” said Rami Komrokji, M.D., Vice Chair of the Malignant Hematology Department and Head of the Leukemia and MDS Section at Moffitt Cancer Center.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) is a well-recognized, not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers in the United States. Its treatment practice guidelines, which are reviewed and updated on a continual basis to reflect the most current evidence, are widely respected and followed by the U.S. physician community and serve to inform and facilitate coverage decisions with payers for oncology therapies. Based on its growing body of supporting clinical evidence and broad label, ropeginterferon alfa-2b-njft is now categorized by the latest NCCN Guidelines® update as a preferred first-line cytoreductive therapy based on NCCN®’s determination of superior efficacy, safety and evidence1 , as well as a category 2A therapy, which means that there is uniform NCCN® consensus that the intervention is appropriate1 . The updated NCCN Guidelines® were released on December 21, 2023.

“This is another important milestone for BESREMi as a preferred, FDA-approved option for both symptomatic low- and high-risk PV patients,” said Albert Qin, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer at PharmaEssentia Corporation. “We are encouraged by the increasing dialogue across academic and community healthcare practitioners rethinking treatment approaches given the potential of BESREMi for this myeloproliferative neoplasm.”