ere confirmed by an independent adjudication committee, blinded to treatment allocation.
All patients were followed up to end-of-study (EOS) for vital status. EOS was declared when the predefined number of primary endpoint events was reached. In the period between end-of-treatment (EOT) and EOS, patients could receive open-label macitentan 10 mg or alternative PAH therapy. The overall median double-blind treatment duration was 115 weeks (up to a maximum of 188 weeks on macitentan).
The mean age of all patients was 46 years (range 12–85 years of age, including 20 patients below 18, 706 patients between 18–74 years, and 16 patients aged 75 and older) with the majority of subjects being Caucasian (55%) and female (77%). Approximately 52%, 46%, and 2% of patients were in WHO FC II, III, and IV, respectively.
Idiopathic or heritable PAH was the most common aetiology in the study population (57%), followed by PAH due to connective tissue disorders (31%), PAH associated with corrected simple congenital heart disease (8%), and PAH associated with other aetiologies (drugs and toxins [3%] and HIV [1%]).
Outcome endpoints
Treatment with macitentan 10 mg resulted in a 45% risk reduction (hazard ratio [HR] 0.55; 97.5% CI: 0.39 to 0.76; logrank p < 0.0001) of the composite morbidity-mortality endpoint up to EOT when compared to placebo [Figure 1 and Table 1]. The treatment effect was established early and was sustained.
Efficacy of macitentan 10 mg on the primary endpoint was consistent across subgroups of age, sex, ethnic origin, geographical region, aetiology, by monotherapy or in combination with another PAH therapy and by WHO FC (I/II and III/IV).
Figure 1 Kaplan-Meier estimates of the first morbidity-mortality event in SERAPHIN
Table 1 Summary of outcome events
a = based on Cox's Proportional Hazards Model
b = % of patients with an event at 36 months = 100 × (1 - KM estimate)
c= all cause death up to EOT regardless of prior worsening
The number of deaths of all causes up to EOS on macitentan 10 mg was 35 versus 44 on placebo (HR 0.77; 97.5% CI: 0.46 to 1.28).
The risk of PAH-related death or hospitalisation for PAH up to EOT was reduced by 50% (HR 0.50; 97.5% CI: 0.34 to 0.75; logrank p < 0.0001) in patients receiving macitentan 10 mg (50 events) compared to placebo (84 events). At 36 months, 44.6% of patients on placebo and 29.4% of patients on macitentan 10 mg (Absolute Risk Reduction = 15.2%) had been hospitalised for PAH or died from a PAH-related cause.
Symptomatic endpoints
Exercise capacity was eva luated as a secondary endpoint. Treatment with macitentan 10 mg at Month 6 resulted in a placebo-corrected mean increase in 6MWD of 22 meters (97.5% CI: 3 to 41; p = 0.0078). eva luation of 6MWD by functional class resulted in a placebo-corrected mean increase from baseline to Month 6 in FC III/IV patients of 37 meters (97.5% CI: 5 to 69) and in FC I/II of 12 meters (97.5% CI: -8 to 33). The increase in 6MWD achieved with macitentan was maintained for the duration of the study.
Treatment with macitentan 10 mg at Month 6 led to a 74% higher chance of WHO FC improvement relative to placebo (risk ratio 1.74; 97.5% CI: 1.10 to 2.74; p = 0.0063).
Macitentan 10 mg improved quality of life assessed by the SF-36 questionnaire.
Haemodynamic endpoints
Haemodynamic parameters were assessed in a subset of patients (placebo [N = 67], macitentan 10 mg [N = 57]) after 6 months of treatment. Patients treated with macitentan 10 mg achieved a median reduction of 36.5% (97.5% CI: 21.7 to 49.2%) |
