healthmedicinet

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval of Baxter’s FEIBA [Anti-Inhibitor Coagulant Complex], the first and only FDA-approved treatment for routine prophylaxis to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes in patients with hemophilia A or B who have developed inhibitors.

Inhibitor development is considered one of the most serious complications associated with hemophilia treatment today. As many as one-third of previously untreated patients with severe or moderately severe hemophilia A are at risk for developing inhibitors, which are antibodies produced by the body’s immune system in response to factor replacement treatment. The presence of an inhibitor makes response to treatment more challenging, and patients with inhibitors have an increased risk of developing complications.

The approval is based on data from a pivotal Phase III study, known as FEIBA PROOF, in which treatment with a FEIBA prophylactic regimen showed a 72 percent reduction in median annual bleed rate (ABR) compared to treatment with an on-demand regimen. In the intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis, three of the 17 (18%) adult patients in the prophylactic arm reported no bleeding episodes. The most frequently reported adverse reactions observed in 5% of subjects in the prophylaxis trial were anemia, diarrhea, hemarthrosis, hepatitis B surface antibody positive, nausea, and vomiting. The serious adverse reactions seen with FEIBA are hypersensitivity reactions and thromboembolic events, including stroke, pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis.

”The PROOF study demonstrated that a prophylactic regimen with FEIBA can significantly reduce the rate of bleeding episodes, as compared to an on-demand regimen, in hemophilia patients with inhibitors. This is important among these patients who often have difficult-to-treat bleeds and are at risk of additional complications,” said Steven Pipe, M.D., Director, Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan. ”This FDA approval of a prophylactic regimen should change the way physicians think about managing hemophilia with inhibitors, validating FEIBA prophylaxis as an effective new option to treat their patients.”

Pro-FEIBA, a prospective investigator-initiated, randomized, crossover study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011 showed a 62 percent reduction in all bleeding episodes with FEIBA prophylaxis compared to an on-demand regimen. Together with the data from the FEIBA PROOF study, the results provide valuable evidence that prophylaxis with FEIBA can significantly reduce bleeding rates when compared to on-demand treatment.