rides.
In a 39-week, repeat dose dog study, there was a dose dependent increase in vacuolated cells in several organs, including the spleen, adrenal gland, liver, heart, duodenum and jejunum. In the spleen, liver, duodenum and jejunum, these vacuoles were within macrophages and most likely represented phagocytic removal of pegloticase from the circulation. However, the vacuolated cells in the heart and adrenal gland did not stain as macrophages. In the aortic outflow tract of the heart, vacuoles were in the cytoplasm of endothelial cells in the intimal lining of the aorta. In the adrenal gland, vacuoles were located within cortical cells in the zona reticularis and zona fasciculata. The clinical significance of these findings and the functional consequences are unknown.
14 CLINICAL STUDIES
The efficacy of KRYSTEXXA was studied in adult patients with chronic gout refractory to conventional therapy in two replicate, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies of six months duration: Trial 1 and Trial 2. Patients were randomized to receive KRYSTEXXA 8 mg every 2 weeks or every 4 weeks or placebo in a 2:2:1 ratio. Studies were stratified for the presence of tophi. Seventy-one percent (71%) of patients had baseline tophi. All patients were prophylaxed with an oral antihistamine, intravenous corticosteroid and acetaminophen. Patients also received prophylaxis for gout flares with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or colchicine, or both, beginning at least one week before KRYSTEXXA treatment unless medically contraindicated or not tolerated. Patients who completed the randomized clinical trials were eligible to enroll in a 2-year open label extension study.
Entry criteria for patients to be eligible for the trials were: baseline serum uric acid (SUA) of at least 8 mg/dL; had symptomatic gout with at least 3 gout flares in the previous 18 months or at least 1 gout tophus or gouty arthritis; and had a self-reported medical contraindication to allopurinol or medical history of failure to normalize uric acid (to less than 6 mg/dL) with at least 3 months of allopurinol treatment at the maximum medically appropriate dose.
The mean age of study subjects was 55 years (23-89); 82% were male, mean body mass index (BMI) was 33 kg/m2, mean duration of gout was 15 years, and mean baseline SUA was 10 mg/dL.
To assess the efficacy of KRYSTEXXA in lowering uric acid, the primary endpoint in both trials was the proportion of patients who achieved plasma uric acid (PUA) less than 6 mg/dL for at least 80% of the time during Month 3 and Month 6. As shown in Table 2, a greater proportion of patients treated with KRYSTEXXA every 2 weeks achieved urate lowering to below 6 mg/dL than patients receiving placebo. Although the 4 week regimen also demonstrated efficacy for the primary endpoint, this regimen was associated with increased frequency of anaphylaxis and infusion reactions and less efficacy with respect to tophi.
Table 2 Plasma Uric Acid < 6 mg/dL for at Least 80% of the Time During Months 3 and 6 Treatment Group N Number (%) of Subjects Who Met Response Criteria 95% Confidence Interval1 P-Value2
1 95% confidence interval for differences in responder rate between pegloticase group vs. placebo
2 P-value using Fisher's exact test to compare pegloticase group vs. placebo
Note: Based on post-hoc analyses of the clinical trial data, if KRYSTEXXA had been stopped when a patient's uric acid level rose to greater than 6 mg/dL |
