The Food and Drug Administration has approved voxelotor (Oxbryta) for adults and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with sickle cell disease.
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Approval was based on results from HOPE, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial of 274 patients with sickle cell disease (median age, 24 years) with a baseline hemoglobin level between 5.5 and 10.5 g/dL. Just over half of patients (51.1%) who received voxelotor at 1,500 mg had a hemoglobin increase of at least 1 g/dL over the 24-week study period, compared with 6.5% of patients who received placebo.
Patients in the 1,500-mg group also had reduced indirect bilirubin and percent reticulocyte count at –29.1% and –19.9%, respectively, compared with placebo, where the change was –3.2% and 4.5%, respectively.
The most common adverse events associated with voxelotor are headache, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, rash, fatigue and pyrexia. The recommended voxelotor dose is 1,500 mg orally once daily with or without food, according to the FDA.