New treatments for systemic mastocytosis in 2025.

Abstract

Purpose of review: To provide an accessible, comprehensive overview of past, present, imminent, and future therapies for systemic mastocytosis.

Recent findings: Based on recent trials, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) have approved two drugs for treating advanced systemic mastocytosis: avapritinib and midostaurin. The FDA also approved imatinib for selected cases of aggressive systemic mastocytosis without the D816V c-Kit mutation. Moreover, for the first time, a cytoreductive molecule, avapritinib, has been approved for patients with indolent systemic mastocytosis.

Summary: Despite the considerable therapeutic progress in recent years, systemic mastocytosis is an incurable disease. In the last 20 years, the management of systemic mastocytosis has transformed from a one-size-fits-all approach, characterized by nonspecific cytoreductive drugs, to a tailored strategy focused on increasingly precise molecular targets, with the most notable example being the KIT inhibitors. Recently, the FDA and EMA have approved two drugs for treating systemic mastocytosis: avapritinib and midostaurin. Moreover, numerous trials are currently assessing the efficacy of new molecules: most are testing new-generation KIT inhibitors (ripretinib, bezuclastinib, elenestinib, masitinib, nintedanib), others focusing on Bruton's kinase (TL-895), interleukin-6 (sarilumab), sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin-8 (lirentelimab), mTOR and CD33, among others. Real-life data are needed to confirm preliminary preclinical results.