Roxadustat for anemia in patients with end-stage renal disease incident to dialysis.

Background We evaluated the efficacy and safety of roxadustat vs. epoetin alfa for the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) related anemia in patients new to dialysis. Methods This was a phase 3, open-label, epoetin alfa-controlled trial. Eligible adults were on hemodialysis/peritoneal dialysis for ≥2 weeks and ≤4 months before randomization and had mean hemoglobin ≤10.0 g/dL. Primary endpoints were mean hemoglobin (g/dL) change from baseline averaged over weeks 28-52 regardless of rescue therapy (non-inferiority criterion: lower limit of 95% CI for treatment difference > -0.75) and percentage of patients achieving a hemoglobin response between weeks 1-24 censored for rescue therapy (non-inferiority margin for between-group difference: -15%). Adverse events were monitored. Results The intention-to-treat population included patients randomized to roxadustat (n = 522) or epoetin alfa (n = 521). Mean (SD) hemoglobin changes from baseline averaged over weeks 28-52 were 2.57 (1.27) and 2.36 (1.21) in the roxadustat and epoetin alfa groups. Roxadustat was non-inferior (least-squares mean difference: 0.18 [95% CI: 0.08, 0.29]) to epoetin alfa. Percentages of patients with a hemoglobin response were 88.2% and 84.4% in the roxadustat and epoetin alfa groups. Roxadustat was non-inferior to epoetin alfa (treatment-group difference: 3.5% [95% CI: -0.7%, 7.7%]). Adverse event rates were comparable between treatment groups. Conclusions Roxadustat was efficacious for correcting and maintaining hemoglobin levels compared to epoetin alfa. Roxadustat had an acceptable safety profile.