Anemia is a condition in which the body lacks enough healthy blood cells to carry adequate oxygen to the body tissues. Roxadustat is an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor that increases the endogenous production of erythropoietin. This study aims to evaluate the safety and efficiency of roxadustat treatment for anemia in patients undergoing long-term dialysis.
This is a randomized trial conducted on a total of 305 patients with anemia who had been undergoing dialysis for at least six weeks. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups in a 2:1 ratio; one group received roxadustat and the other received epoetin alfa three times for 26 weeks. The primary outcome of the study was the mean change in hemoglobin levels from baseline.
Out of a total of 305 patients who underwent randomization, 204 were assigned to the roxadustat group and 101 to the epoetin alfa group. The researchers found that roxadustat led to a statistically greater change in hemoglobin levels (0.7±1.1 g per dL) 23-27 weeks than epoetin alfa (0.5±1.0 g per dL). Besides, roxadustat also increased the transferrin level and serum iron level.
The research concluded that oral roxadustat was non-inferior and more effective in treatment for anemia in patients with long-term dialysis.
Ref: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1901713
