Venkat Living Venkat with Hemophilia Living with Hemophilia The Combined Use of Bypassing Agents with Antithrombin Reduction in Plasma of Hemophilia A and B Patients with Inhibitors Tami Livnat 1, Alfica Sehgal 2, Kun Qian 2, Huy Van Nguyen 2, Benny Sorensen 3, Gili Kenet 1 12 July 2017 ISTH Berlin, Germany 1
Introduction Treatment Options for Patients with Inhibitors Patients with hemophilia with high responding inhibitors are treated with bypassing agents Bypassing agents aim to enable the burst of thrombin generation as the final common mediator for clot formation, despite the absence of FVIII or FIX The most commonly used bypassing agents are recombinant activated FVII (rfviia; i.e. NovoSeven) and activated prothrombin complex concentrate (apcc; i.e. FEIBA) Recently, new non-factor replacement therapies have emerged for patients with hemophilia, including patients with inhibitors 2
Fitusiran Investigational RNAi Therapeutic for Treatment of Hemophilia Fitusiran (ALN-AT3) SC-administered small interfering RNA (sirna) therapeutic targeting antithrombin (AT) Non-biologic, chemically-synthesized, with targeting ligand to specifically deliver to liver site of AT synthesis Harnesses natural RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism for regulation of plasma AT levels Hemophilia A Hemophilia B FVIII FVIIIa FX FVIIa Fitusiran FVII Therapeutic hypothesis Hemophilia A and B are bleeding disorders characterized by ineffective clot formation due to insufficient thrombin generation Fitusiran is designed to lower AT, with goal of promoting sufficient thrombin generation to restore hemostasis and prevent bleeding Observation of ameliorated bleeding phenotype in patients with co-inheritance of thrombophilic traits in hemophilia 1-4 Supported by pre-clinical data 5 Phase 1 clinical results 6-7 and emerging FIX FIXa Prothrombin FXa AT FVa Thrombin Fibrinogen Fibrin Blood clot FV 3 1 Kurnik K, et al. Haematologica. 92:982-985 (2007); 2 Ettingshausen E, et al. Thromb Haemost. 85:218-220 (2001); 3 Negrier C, et al. Blood. 81:690-695 (1993); 4 Shetty S, et al. Br J Haematol. 138:541-544 (2007); 5 Seghal A, et al. Nat Med. 21:492-497 (2015); 6 Pasi KJ et al. Blood. 2016, 128: 1397; 7 Pasi KJ, et al. N Engl J Med. 2017; epub ahead of print.
Aims Patients with hemophilia with inhibitors treated with fitusiran may experience breakthrough bleeding episodes As bleeding episodes in inhibitor patients are treated with bypassing agents, we aimed to predict the effect of bypassing agents in the background of fitusiran therapy Thrombin generation was evaluated in plasma of patients with hemophilia A and B with inhibitors in the presence of bypassing agent and reduced antithrombin activity 4
Methods Plasma samples from patients with severe hemophilia A (HA) and hemophilia B (HB) with high responding inhibitors were spiked with anti-at antibody to target reduction of AT activity by approximately 50% or 90%, to model fitusiran treatment Patient plasma was spiked with rfviia (1.25 and 2.5 μg/ml corresponding to doses of 45 and 90 mcg/kg, respectively 1,2 ) or apcc (0.5 and 1 U/ml corresponding to doses of 37.5 and 75 U/kg, respectively 1,2 ) either alone or in combination with AT activity reduction TG was measured by calibrated automated TG assay using 1 pm tissue factor and 4 μm phospholipid 5 apcc, activated prothrombin complex concentrate; rfviia, recombinant factor VIIa; TG, thrombin generation 1. Turecek PL, et al.. Pathophysiol Haemost Thromb. 2003;33(1):16-22. 2. Livnat T, & Kenet G. Blood Cells, Molecules and Diseases. 2017 [In Press]
R e s i d u a l A T A c t i v i t y R e l a t i v e t o B a s e l i n e Results Demographics and AT Lowering 15 patients with high responding inhibitors provided plasma samples 12 HA patients 3 HB patients Median age = 6 (range 1-50) AT lowering, in samples from 14 patients, with anti-at antibody targeting 50 or 90% lowering AT lowering was similar to fitusiran (~ 80% lowering) Antithrombin lowering with anti-at antibody in samples from patients with hemophilia A or B with inhibitors Antithrombin lowering with fitusiran in patients with hemophilia A or B with inhibitors 1. 0 0. 8 0. 6 0. 4 0. 2 0. 0 T a r g e t 9 0 % A T L o w e r i n g w i t h A n t i - A T A n t i b o d y 6 AT, antithrombin; HA, hemophilia A; HB, hemophilia B
P e a k T h r o m b i n [ n M ] Results Antithrombin Reduction Improved Thrombin Generation in Hemophilia Plasma Median baseline peak thrombin generation was substantially lower in patients with hemophilia compared to healthy volunteers. Decrease in antithrombin activity resulted in a corresponding improvement in thrombin generation 4 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 7 0 Baseline Target 50% Residual AT s e l i n e a l A T Target 10% Residual AT a l A T Healthy Volunteers n t e e r
P e a k T h r o m b i n [ n M ] Results Thrombin Generation Further Improved with Addition of rfviia to AT Reduction and Does not Exceed Healthy Volunteer Range Addition of 45 and 90 mcg/kg rfviia to the plasma samples induced an additive increase in peak thrombin generation 4 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 8 0 No rfviia added AT, antithrombin; rfviia, recombinant factor VIIa Doses of 45 and 90 mcg/kg of rfviia correlate to approximately 1.25 and 2.5 mcg/ml, respectively B a s e l i n e rfviia rfviia 45 mcg/kg 90 mcg/kg Baseline AT k g r F V I I a k g r F V I I a No rfviia added i d u a l A T rfviia rfviia 45 mcg/kg 90 mcg/kg Maximal AT Lowering k g r F V I I a k g r F V I I a Healthy Volunteers o l u n t e e r
P e a k T h r o m b i n [ n M ] Results Thrombin Generation Further Improved with Addition of apcc to AT Reduction and Does Not Exceed Healthy Volunteer Range Addition of 38 and 75 U/kg apcc to the plasma samples induced higher peak thrombin generation 4 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 9 0 No apcc added apcc, activated prothrombin complex concentrate; AT, antithrombin Doses of 37.5 and 75 U/kg of apcc correlate to approximately 0.5 and 1 U/ml, respectively B a s e l i n e apcc 37.5 U/kg Baseline AT / k g A P C C apcc 75 U/kg / k g A P C C No apcc added s i d u a l A T apcc apcc 37.5 U/kg 75 U/kg Maximal AT Lowering / k g A P C C / k g A P C C Healthy Volunteers V o l u n t e e r
Limitations Small, heterogeneous sample size makes this challenging to generalize broadly to hemophilia subpopulations TG was assayed in platelet poor plasma samples, which may underestimate the level of TG for rfviia, since platelets play an important role in its pharmacodynamics effects 10 TG, thrombin generation; rfviia, recombinant factor VIIa
Summary Enhanced thrombin generation was achieved with bypassing agents in the context of reduced plasma AT activity in this ex vivo study Peak thrombin levels did not exceed the normal range, either with AT lowering alone or with the addition of bypassing agents These data suggests that bypassing agents may potentially be used in conjunction with AT reduction Further clinical investigations are required to better understand the implications, relevance, and translatability of these ex vivo findings to clinical practice 11 AT, antithrombin