Publication Date

2018

Journal Title

Clin J Am Soc Nephrol

Abstract

© 2018 by the American Society of Nephrology. Background and objectives This study was conducted to compare the safety and efficacy of intravenous epoetin alfa-epbx, an epoetin alfa biosimilar, to epoetin alfa in patients on hemodialysis with ESKD and anemia. Design, setting, participants, & measurements In this 24-week, multicenter, double-blind comparative efficacy and safety study, 612 patients on hemodialysis with ESKD and anemia who had stable hemoglobin and were receiving stable doses of intravenous epoetin alfa were randomized (1:1) to intravenous epoetin alfa or epoetin alfa-epbx. Dosing was adjusted according to the epoetin alfa prescribing information. The coprimary efficacy endpoints were the least squares mean difference between the two treatments in mean weekly hemoglobin level and mean weekly epoetin dose per kilogram of body weight during the last 4 weeks of treatment. Results The least squares mean difference between epoetin alfa-epbx and epoetin alfa in weekly hemoglobin was –0.12 g/dl and the 95% confidence interval (–0.25 to 0.01) was contained within the prespecified equivalence margin (–0.5 to 0.5 g/dl). The least squares mean difference between epoetin alfa-epbx and epoetin alfa in weekly epoetin dose per kilogram of body weight was 0.37 U/kg per week, and the 95% confidence interval (–10.40 to 11.13) was contained within the prespecified equivalence margin (–45 to 45 U/kg per week). Incidences of adverse events (77.1% versus 75.3%), serious adverse events (24.9% versus 27.0%), and deaths (n=5 versus 6) were similar between the epoetin alfa-epbx and epoetin alfa groups, respectively. Five patients tested positive for anti-recombinant human erythropoietin antibodies at baseline, and two additional patients (n=1 per group) developed anti-recombinant human erythropoietin antibodies while on study treatment. All patients tested negative for neutralizing antibodies, and no patient in either group experienced an event of pure red cell aplasia. Conclusions This 24-week, comparative, clinical trial in patients on hemodialysis with ESKD and anemia demonstrated there is no clinically meaningful difference in efficacy or safety between epoetin alfa-epbx and epoetin alfa.

Volume Number

13

Issue Number

8

Pages

1204 - 1214

Document Type

Article

Status

Faculty

Facility

School of Medicine

Primary Department

Nephrology

PMID

29921734

DOI

10.2215/CJN.11631017


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