Safety & Efficacy of Peginesatide for Maintenance Treatment of Anemia in Participants With Chronic Kidney Disease on Hemodialysis

Anemia associated with chronic kidney disease is due to several factors, primarily the inability of the diseased kidneys to produce adequate amounts of endogenous erythropoietin. Ancillary factors include the shortened lifespan of red blood cells, iron and other nutritional deficiencies, infection, and inflammation. The presence and severity of anemia are related to the duration and extent of kidney failure. Anemia is associated with increased mortality, increased likelihood of hospitalization, reduced cognitive function, and increased left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure. Erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs) have been established as a treatment for anemia in chronic renal failure subjects, and have improved the management of anemia over alternatives such as transfusion. Peginesatide is a parenteral formulation developed for the treatment of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. Peginesatide binds to and activates the human erythropoietin receptor, and stimulates erythropoiesis in human red cell precursors in a manner similar to other known erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Eligible participants were randomized in a 2:1 ratio to peginesatide administered once every 4 weeks or to continued treatment with epoetin alfa administered 1-3 times each week, respectively. Total commitment time for this study was 4 weeks of screening followed by a minimum of 52 weeks of study treatment. To evaluate the cardiovascular safety of peginesatide, a cardiovascular composite safety endpoint (CSE) was defined for use in prospectively planned analyses which combined cardiovascular safety data from the four Phase 3 peginesatide studies (NCT00598273, NCT00597753, NCT00598442, and NCT00597584). The CSE consisted of six events: death, stroke, myocardial infarction, and serious adverse events of congestive heart failure, unstable angina, and arrhythmia. An independent Event Review Committee (ERC) was used to provide blinded adjudication of potential CSE events.