During the COVID-19 pandemic, the classical subsequent treatment regimen for ITP of immunosuppressants and/or steroids might increase patients' susceptibility of virus infections. To minimize ITP patients' risk during the COVID-19 global crisis and to improve treatment efficacy, this treatment regimen of eltrombopag plus recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) should be investigated.~Recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) is a full-length glycosylated-TPO produced by Chinese hamster ovary cells, which showed its effectiveness in ITP in a variety of studies.~Eltrombopag, a small molecule agonist of thrombopoietin receptor (TPO-RA), was recommended as the subsequent treatment for ITP patients, which also already showed robust efficacy.~Both eltrombopag and rhTPO demonstrated good safety in ITP patients. Since they increase the number of platelets through different mechanisms, and previous studies demonstrated that they might exert synergic effect. The investigators hypothesized that the combination of these two agents could be a promising option for ITP treatment.~This study aimed to evaluate the sustained responses and safety of eltrombopag plus rhTPO as treatment for corticosteroid-resistant or relapsed ITP patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-label study to investigate the efficacy and safety of eltrombopag plus recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) versus eltrombopag as treatment for corticosteroid-resistant or relapsed immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) during the COVID-19 pandemic.