Mircera stabilizes Hb levels in elderly dialysis patients

BASEL, Switzerland—Results from a phase 3 clinical study showed Roche’s anemia drug Mircera can effectively treat anemia in elderly patients on dialysis, according to data presented at the World Congress of Nephrology in Rio de Janeiro.

In the analysis, Mircera helped keep hemoglobin levels stable in patients over the age of 65. According to Roche, hemoglobin levels deviated less than 0.5 g/dL throughout the study.

“These results show that Mircera safely and effectively treated a group of kidney disease patients who represent the ‘face’ of dialysis and also have the poorest prognosis,” said data presenter Marializa Bernardo, MD, of Houston-based Southwest Kidney Associates. “Elderly dialysis patients are fragile because they suffer from a range of coexisting diseases along renal anemia that worsen their health, impact their quality of life and increase their risk of hospitalization and death. This analysis shows that those elderly patients on dialysis who were directly converted from treatment given up to three-times-a-week to Mircera twice monthly or once monthly maintained stable hemoglobin levels."

The results presented in Brazil were based on pooled analysis from two Mircera phase 3 maintenance studies. The mean age of patients was 60 years old and patients had already been on dialysis between 33 and 40 months.

Roche said the results showed that intravenous and subcutaneous Mircera helped maintain stable hemoglobin levels in dialysis patients over the age of 65 that were switched from the frequently administered agents epoetin alfa and beta. Roche added that Mircera treatment was well tolerated with a safety profile characteristic of the patient population.