Boehringer Ingelheim reports results from life-threatening bleeding drug study

Boehringer Ingelheim has reported that final results from RE-VERSE AD study showed that idarucizumab, marketed in the U.S. as Praxbind, was able to immediately reverse the anticoagulant effect of Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) in patients in emergency situations.

The company saitd that the effects were consistent both in patients requiring an urgent surgery or intervention, and in patients presenting with uncontrollable or life-threatening bleeding. The reversal of the anticoagulant effect of Pradaxa allowed physicians to quickly initiate necessary emergency interventions. The findings were presented at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) 26th Biennial Congress in Berlin, Germany and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The primary endpoint of RE-VERSE AD was reversal of the anticoagulant effect of Pradaxa within four hours as measured by diluted thrombin time (dTT) and ecarin clotting time (ECT), and was observed in 100 percent of patients (95 percent CI, 100-100). Reversal became evident immediately after administration of idarucizumab and was maintained for 24 hours in most patients. Reversal was independent of age, sex, kidney function or dabigatran concentration at baseline. A single 5 g dose of idarucizumab was sufficient in 98 percent of patients.

The clinical outcomes captured as secondary endpoints provide insights into the clinical relevance of anticoagulation reversal: in patients enrolled with acute bleeding (Group A), who could be assessed for time to cessation of bleeding, it took a median of 2.5 hours until the bleeding had stopped; in patients enrolled with a need for urgent surgery or intervention (Group B), the required procedures could be initiated after a median of 1.6 hours. In 93.4 percent of patients requiring procedures, hemostasis during the procedure was described as normal.

“Emergencies or accidents can happen to anyone. Patients with atrial fibrillation on an anticoagulant may feel anxious about how they might be managed in an emergency,” said Charles Pollack, M.D., lead investigator of RE-VERSE AD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA. “RE-VERSE AD has shown that idarucizumab reverses the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran within minutes, so that treating physicians can fully focus on dealing with the emergency at hand.”

There were no adverse safety signals related to idarucizumab observed in the study. Patients in this study were elderly, had numerous comorbidities and presented with serious index events such as intracranial hemorrhage, multiple trauma or sepsis. Mortality rates at 90 days were 18.8 percent (Group A) and 18.9 percent (Group B). At 90 days, thrombotic events had occurred in 6.3 percent of Group A patients and 7.4 percent of Group B patients, which is consistent with rates reported after major surgical procedures or hospitalization for uncontrolled bleeding.

“These final data from RE-VERSE AD are consistent with the results we have seen to-date, which demonstrate the important role idarucizumab can play for patients,” said Sabine Luik, M.D., senior vice president, Medicine & Regulatory Affairs, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. “The good news for patients and physicians is that idarucizumab is available right now in more than 2,900 hospital pharmacies nationwide, where it can be used to treat patients when urgently needed.”

Idarucizumab is the first and only approved specific reversal agent for a novel oral anticoagulant currently available. It is approved as a specific reversal agent for Pradaxa by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under accelerated approval. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon the results of an ongoing cohort case series study. Boehringer Ingelheim continues to study idarucizumab in the RE-VECTO™ program, which evaluates usage patterns in a clinical practice setting. Expected completion of the RE-VECTO program is end of 2018.