Efficacy and Safety of Sucroferric Oxyhydroxide and Calcium Carbonate in Hemodialysis Patients

Efficacy and Safety of Sucroferric Oxyhydroxide Compared with Sevelamer Carbonate in Chinese Dialysis Patients with Hyperphosphataemia: A Randomised, Open-Label, Multicentre, 12-Week Phase III Study

INTRODUCTION

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of sucroferric oxyhydroxide (SFOH) versus sevelamer carbonate in controlling serum phosphorus (sP) in adult Chinese dialysis patients with hyperphosphataemia (sP >1.78 mmol/L).

METHODS

Open-label, randomised (1:1), active-controlled, parallel group, multicentre, phase III study of SFOH and sevelamer at starting doses corresponding to 1,500 mg iron/day and 2.4 g/day, respectively, with 8-week dose titration and 4-week maintenance (NCT03644264). Primary endpoint was non-inferiority analysis of change in sP from baseline to week 12. Secondary endpoints included sP over time and safety.

RESULTS

415 patients were screened; 286 were enrolled and randomised (142 and 144 to SFOH and sevelamer, respectively). Mean (SD) baseline sP: 2.38 (0.57) and 2.38 (0.52) mmol/L, respectively. Mean (SD) change in sP from baseline to week 12: - 0.71 (0.60) versus -0.63 (0.52) mmol/L, respectively; difference (sevelamer minus SFOH) in least squares means (95% CI): 0.08 mmol/L (-0.02, 0.18) with the lower limit of 95% CI above the non-inferiority margin of -0.34 mmol/L. The SFOH group achieved target sP (1.13-1.78 mmol/L) earlier than the sevelamer group (56.5% vs. 32.8% at week 4) and with a lower pill burden (mean 3.7 vs. 9.1 tablets/day over 4 weeks of maintenance, respectively). Safety and tolerability of SFOH was consistent with previous studies, and no new safety signals were observed.

CONCLUSION

SFOH effectively reduced sP from baseline and was non-inferior to sevelamer after 12 weeks of treatment but had a lower pill burden in Chinese dialysis patients with hyperphosphataemia; SFOH benefit-risk profile is favourable in Chinese patients.

A real-world analysis of the influence of age on maintenance hemodialysis patients: managing serum phosphorus with sucroferric oxyhydroxide as part of routine clinical care

OBJECTIVE

Despite the growing number of elderly hemodialysis patients, the influence of age on nutritional parameters, serum phosphorus (sP), and use of phosphate-binder (PB) medications has not been well characterized. We aimed to describe age-related differences in patient characteristics in a large, real-world cohort of maintenance hemodialysis patients, and to examine the impact of age on sP management with sucroferric oxyhydroxide (SO).

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed de-identified data from 2017 adult, in-center hemodialysis patients who switched from another PB to SO monotherapy as part of routine clinical care. Changes in baseline PB pill burden, sP levels, and nutritional and dialytic clearance parameters were assessed across varying age groups through 6 months.

RESULTS

At baseline, older patients had lower mean sP, serum albumin, and pre-dialysis weights compared with younger patients. Prescription of SO was associated with a 62% increase in the proportion of patients achieving sP ≤ 5.5 mg/dl and a 42% reduction in daily pill burden. The proportion of patients achieving sP ≤ 5.5 mg/dl after transitioning to SO increased by 113, 96, 68, 77, 61, 37 and 40% among those aged 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and ≥ 80 years, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Older patients had worse nutritional parameters, lower pill burden, and lower sP at baseline versus younger counterparts. Prescription of SO was associated with improved sP control and reduced pill burden across all ages.

Sucroferric Oxyhydroxide as Part of Combination Phosphate Binder Therapy among Hemodialysis Patients

BACKGROUND

Combination therapy with multiple phosphate binders is prescribed to reduce elevated serum phosphorus (sP) concentrations among patients on maintenance hemodialysis. Sucroferric oxyhydroxide (SO), an iron-based phosphate binder, has demonstrated efficacy at reducing sP while also being associated with a low pill burden. Whereas the effects of SO monotherapy have been well characterized in clinical trials and observational cohorts, little is known about the effects of SO-containing combination therapy.

METHODS

Patients on hemodialysis (N=234) at Fresenius Kidney Care (FKC) who received ≥120 days of uninterrupted phosphate binder combination therapy with SO were included in this retrospective study. Patient data were censored after SO discontinuation, end of care at FKC, or completion of 12 months of follow-up. Quarterly (Q) changes in phosphate binder pill burden, mean sP, and proportion of patients achieving National Kidney Foundation Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF-KDOQI)-recommended sP levels (≤5.5 mg/dl) were compared between baseline (-Q1) and follow-up (Q1-Q4).

RESULTS

Phosphate binder combination therapy with SO was associated with significant increase in the proportion of patients with sP ≤5.5 mg/dl (from 19% at baseline to up to 40% at follow-up; P<0.001) and reduction in sP at all postbaseline time points (from 6.7 mg/dl to 6.2-6.3 mg/dl; P<0.001). Patients on calcium acetate (N=54) and sevelamer (N=94) who added SO therapy at follow-up resulted in a ≥250% increase in patients achieving sP ≤5.5 mg/dl (all P<0.001). Whereas mean phosphate binder pill burden increased with initiation of phosphate binder combination therapy with SO (15.8 pills/d at Q1 versus 12.3 pills/d at -Q1), continued use of SO was associated with down-titration of non-SO phosphate binders such that, by Q4, mean total PB pill burden reduced to 12.3 pills/d.

CONCLUSIONS

For patients on hemodialysis with uncontrolled hyperphosphatemia, combination therapy with SO may allow for sustained improvements in sP control without adversely affecting phosphate binder pill burden.

Phosphate binders in chronic kidney disease: an updated narrative review of recent data

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is frequently accompanied by hyperphosphatemia. High serum phosphate usually requires dietary measures, adequate dialysis prescription and/or phosphate binders. For this narrative review a PubMed searched was undertaken to identify new publications on phosphate binders that had been published between January 2015 and July 2019. The present review summarizes this most recent information on dietary measures and their problems in treating hyperphosphatemia in CKD patients, overall effects of phosphate binders on cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, adherence to phosphate binder therapy as well as new data on specific aspects of the various phosphate binders on the market: calcium-containing phosphate binders, polymeric phosphate binders (sevelamer, bixalomer, colestilan), magnesium-containing phosphate binders, lanthanum carbonate, ferric citrate, sucroferric oxyhydroxide, and new compounds in development, in particular drugs targeting intestinal phosphate transporters.

A comparison between the combined effect of calcium carbonate with sucroferric oxyhydroxide and other phosphate binders: an in vitro and in vivo experimental study

Background

Approximately 30% of patients on dialysis received combination therapy for their phosphate binder prescription; however, few studies for combined effects of phosphate binders are reported. For the purpose of evaluating the efficacy of combination therapy, we compared the efficacy of sucroferric oxyhydroxide (PA21) combined with calcium carbonate with that of lanthanum carbonate hydrate, sevelamer hydrochloride, and ferric citrate hydrate combined with calcium carbonate.

Methods

For in vitro studies, calcium carbonate and the other phosphate binders alone or in combination were stirred in phosphate solution at pH 2–8 for 2 h. After centrifuging the suspension, the phosphorus level in the supernatant was determined. For in vivo studies, rats were orally administered calcium carbonate and the other phosphate binders (except for sevelamer hydrochloride) alone or in combination, followed by oral administration of phosphate solution adjusted to pH 2 or 7. Serum samples were collected from the rats at predetermined timepoints and the serum phosphorus levels were determined and analyzed using a two-way analysis of variance.

Results

In the in vitro study, the measured phosphate-binding capacity of combining sevelamer hydrochloride, PA21, and lanthanum carbonate hydrate with calcium carbonate was approximately equal to or greater than the theoretical values under most conditions. Furthermore, these combined effects were insensitive to pH in that order. The measured phosphate-binding capacity of ferric citrate hydrate combined with calcium carbonate was smaller than the theoretical values, and the combination did not exhibit efficacy under any of the tested conditions. In the in vivo study, the combined effect of PA21 and calcium carbonate at both pH values and that of lanthanum carbonate hydrate and calcium carbonate at pH 2 were additive. In contrast, the combined effect of lanthanum carbonate hydrate and calcium carbonate at pH 7 and that of ferric citrate hydrate and calcium carbonate at pH 2 were antagonistic.

Conclusions

These results suggest that coadministration of PA21 and calcium carbonate showed good and relatively stable efficacy throughout the range of the gastrointestinal pH and that combining lanthanum carbonate hydrate and ferric citrate hydrate with calcium carbonate may not produce the expected efficacy under certain conditions.

[Short-term effects with sucroferric oxyhydroxide in hemodialysis patients: Experience in NephroCare France]

INTRODUCTION

Despite a better management of hyperphosphatemia in haemodialysis patients observed during the past years, most of them remain insufficiently treated and exposed to bone and cardiovascular complications that are associated with this biological abnormality. The availability of calcium-free phosphate binders among therapeutical options is confirmed to significantly reduce serum phosphate levels without the risk of excess exposure to calcium. Currently sucroferric oxyhydroxyde (SO) is the only iron-based phosphate binder available in France.

METHODS

A cohort of patients prescribed OHS has been extracted from the EUCLID 5 database between June 2016 and December 2017. The effects on bone mineral metabolism and ferritin have been retrospectively studied.

RESULTS

Two hundred and sixty-two patients with OHS prescription have been identified. The OHS treatment duration median was 4.3 months (1.84-10.99). The average midweek phosphatemia decreased significantly after OHS prescription (from 1.99 to 1.83 mmol/L ; P<0.0001) with a significant increase of the proportion of patients (12.1 to 25.7% ; P<0.0001) reaching the phosphate target of 1.5 mmol/L, without significant change in calcemia and PTH. Ferritinemia significantly increased from 362 to 427 μg/L in 3 months (P=0.0049). OHS therapy has been stopped and replaced in 18% of the cases.

DISCUSSION

Among the NephroCare cohort, OHS therapy was efficient to decrease phosphatemia and to increase significantly the proportion of patients in target. There were no short term changes in calcemia and PTH. The slight increase in ferritin confirms the findings of the phase III study and its extension. The effects on the pills count and the OHS side-effects are analyzed from literature. The risk of iron overload and the impact on the anemia management including EPO sparing are currently under study.

CONCLUSION

OHS therapy appears to be a new efficient alternative to non-calcium phosphate binders. A better knowledge of its side effects will help the patients and the physician to optimize the phosphate balance management. The slight increase in ferritin can be considered as an epiphenomenon because of the important iron needs and frequent check of this parameter in the anemia management.