Research Results on Immune Thrombocytopenia from a Joint Study with Osaka University’s IFReC Published in Blood

• Results of a joint study with the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) at Osaka University published in the online edition of the scientific journal Blood
• These findings suggest the potential for a new approach to the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia

TOKYO, April 6, 2026 -- Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (TOKYO: 4519) announced that the results of a collaborative study conducted under the comprehensive collaboration agreement with the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) at Department of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, have been published online in the scientific journal Blood. Blood is the journal of the American Society of Hematology and is among the most authoritative journals in the field of hematology, publishing important and up-to-date research findings spanning from basic to clinical studies on blood disorders. This study identified, for the first time, a subgroup of patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in whom complement activation is involved, and it revealed a potential simple test that could be readily used in routine clinical practice to detect such cases.

“Complement activation profile in adult primary immune thrombocytopenia”

https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2025032255

This study demonstrated the following:

• The pathophysiology of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) varies among patients, and the causes and mechanisms of platelet destruction have not been fully elucidated; this study identified three distinct mechanisms of platelet destruction.
• The findings suggest the possibility of a simple, clinically feasible method to identify patients for whom complement activation inhibitors are likely to be effective.

Please refer to the link below for details of the press release of Osaka University:

“Discovery of a New Therapeutic Indicator for the Intractable Disease ‘Immune Thrombocytopenia’ — Classification of refractory patients by complement activation —” (Japanese only)

https://www.ifrec.osaka-u.ac.jp/jpn/research/upload_img/Commentary%20Hosen-Kashiwagi%20Blood_260331.pdf