Study details
ADVOCATE results reported at the congress showed that the week 26 rate of disease remission was 72.3% with avacopan versus 70.1% with prednisone, with the difference falling within the 20% boundary for noninferiority (P < .0001) but missing the mark for superiority (P = .2387).
However, the week 52 rate of sustained disease remission was 65.7% versus 54.9%, respectively, yielding a difference in favor of avacopan that was statistically both noninferior (P < .0001) and superior (P = .0066).
At week 26, patients in the avacopan group had more favorable Glucocorticoid Toxicity Index scores for cumulative worsening (39.7 vs. 56.6; P = .0002) and for aggregate improvement (11.2 vs. 23.4; P = .008).
Among patients who had renal disease at baseline, those in the avacopan group had a greater increase in estimated glomerular filtration rate at week 52 (7.3 vs. 4.1 mL/min per 1.73 m2; P = .029).
“Particularly interesting is the fact that, even after week 26, when the patients were in remission, there was continued improvement in renal function,” Dr. Merkel noted.
Overall, avacopan had a good safety profile. “This was a sick population with many complications, but there were no important safety signals of the study medication,” he reported.
The avacopan and prednisone groups had a similar rate of severe adverse events (23.5% vs. 25.0%). But the former had lower rates of life-threatening adverse events (4.8% vs. 8.5%), adverse events potentially related to glucocorticoids (66.3% vs. 80.5%), deaths (1.2% vs. 2.4%), and deaths specifically caused by infection (0.6% vs. 1.2%).
The trial was sponsored by ChemoCentryx. Dr. Merkel disclosed receiving grant/research support from and consulting fees from ChemoCentryx, among other disclosures. Dr. Lally disclosed that she was an investigator in the trial.
SOURCE: Merkel PA et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2020;79[suppl 1]:8, Abstract OP0011.