Novartis (NVS) said Tuesday that its phase 3 study evaluating ianalumab plus eltrombopag in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia showed extended disease control by 45%, based on the primary endpoint of time to treatment failure.

Patients also achieved a "significantly" higher rate of sustained platelet count improvement at six months compared with placebo plus eltrombopag, meeting the key secondary endpoint, Novartis said.

Additionally, ianalumab was well tolerated with no new safety signals, and its side effect profile was consistent with previous studies, Novartis said.

Shares of the company were up over 2% in recent trading.