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Clinical Trials

Date: 2016-12-21

Type of information: Results

phase: 2-3

Announcement: results

Company: Alexion Pharmaceuticals (USA - CT)

Product: Soliris® (eculizumab)

Action mechanism:

  • monoclonal antibody. Eculizumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal IgG2/4 antibody that specifically binds to the complement protein C5, inhibiting its cleavage by the C5 convertase which prevents the generation of the terminal complement complex C5b-9.
  • Eculizumab received orphan drug designation (ODD) in 2014 from the FDA for the prevention of delayed graft function in renal transplant patients, and from the European Medicines Agency for the prevention of delayed graft function after solid organ transplantation.

Disease: delayed graft function

Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology

Country: Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, USA

Trial details:

  • The PROTECT Study is a randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center study of eculizumab administered in an acute setting for the prevention of DGF in adult recipients of a deceased-donor kidney transplant who are at increased risk of DGF. A total of 288 patients were treated across North America, South America, Europe, and Australia. Patients had dialysis-dependent renal failure (initiated more than 2 months prior to transplant) and were scheduled to receive a first kidney transplant from a deceased standard criteria donor (SCD) or expanded criteria donor (ECD) with a DGF risk score of ?25 percent using the Irish scale. (NCT02145182)

Latest news:

  • • On December 21, 2016, Alexion Pharmaceuticals reported results from the PROTECT Study, a Phase 2/3 registration trial of Soliris® (eculizumab) for the prevention of delayed graft function (DGF) after kidney transplantation in adult recipients of a deceased donor kidney. The primary endpoint of incidence of DGF with a two-dose regimen of eculizumab compared with placebo did not reach statistical significance. DGF is an early and serious complication of organ transplantation in which the transplanted organ fails to function normally immediately following transplantation, and was defined in the study as the requirement for dialysis for any reason in the first 7 days post-transplant. The primary endpoint also included incidence of death, graft loss, and loss to follow-up, including discontinuation.
  • Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive either eculizumab or placebo in the following dosing regimen: one dose of eculizumab 1200 mg or placebo just prior to the time of reperfusion of the kidney allograft and one dose of eculizumab 900 mg or placebo within 18 to 24 hours of the completion of administration of the first dose. Randomization was stratified according to whether the donor kidney was preserved by cold storage or by machine perfusion, as well as by donor type (ECD vs. SCD). Patients were evaluated over a primary study period through 26 weeks and a follow-up period through 52 weeks.
  • In the primary endpoint of the study, assessed in 286 patients who were treated and received a transplant, the incidence of DGF, death, graft loss, or loss to follow-up at 7 days post-transplant was 35.9 percent for patients receiving a two-dose regimen of eculizumab compared with 41.7 percent for patients receiving placebo (p=0.398). In the first 60 days following treatment, rates of serious adverse events were higher for patients in the placebo group compared with the eculizumab group (54.1 percent vs. 44.4 percent). There were 4 deaths in the placebo group vs. 1 in the eculizumab group in the same time frame. Alexion expects that data from the study will be published at a later date.
 

Is general: Yes