Evaluating the Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of Serelaxin When Added to Standard Therapy in Asian Patients With Acute Heart Failure: Design and Rationale of RELAX-AHF-ASIA Trial.

BACKGROUND: Acute heart failure (AHF), a common and growing health concern worldwide, is associated with high risk of post-discharge rehospitalization and mortality. Existing evidence indicates potential therapeutic benefits of serelaxin in Caucasian AHF patients, but corresponding data in Asians remain scarce. RELAX-AHF-ASIA, a multinational, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III trial, will evaluate the effects of serelaxin on symptom relief and clinical outcomes in Asian AHF patients, with the use of novel assessments. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients with AHF, systolic blood pressure ≥125 mm Hg, and mild to moderate renal dysfunction will be randomized within 16 hours of presentation to receive 48-hour intravenous infusion of 30 µg ⋅ kg-1 ⋅ d-1 serelaxin or placebo in addition to standard therapy. The composite primary end point includes: (1) treatment success (moderate/marked improvement in patient-reported dyspnea and physician-assessed signs of congestion on day 2); (2) treatment failure (in-hospital worsening of signs and/or symptoms of heart failure [HF] requiring intensification of intravenous HF therapy or mechanical ventilation, renal/circulatory support, rehospitalization due to HF/renal-failure, or death through day 5); and (3) unchanged status. Secondary end points include time to in-hospital worsening HF through day 5 and all-cause and cardiovascular deaths through day 180. CONCLUSIONS: RELAX-AHF-ASIA, the largest randomized clinical trial in Asian AHF patients to date, has a novel composite primary end point and the potential to become a hallmark of AHF trials.

Panobinostat activity in both bexarotene-exposed and -naïve patients with refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma: results of a phase II trial.

BACKGROUND: Panobinostat is a potent, oral pan-deacetylase inhibitor (pan-DACi) that increases the acetylation of proteins involved in multiple oncogenic pathways. Here, panobinostat is studied in bexarotene-exposed and -naïve patients with refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with CTCL subtypes mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome who received ⩾2 prior systemic therapy regimens received panobinostat (20mg) three times every week. The primary objective was overall response rate (ORR) as determined by a combined evaluation of skin disease and involvement of lymph node and viscera. Disease progression was defined as an unconfirmed, ⩾25% increase in modified Severity Weighted Assessment Tool (mSWAT) compared with nadir. RESULTS: Seventy-nine bexarotene-exposed and 60 bexarotene-naïve patients were enrolled. Reductions in baseline mSWAT scores were observed in 103 patients (74.1%). The ORR was 17.3% in all patients in the primary analysis (15.2% and 20.0% in the bexarotene-exposed and -naïve groups, respectively). The median progression-free survival was 4.2 and 3.7 months in the bexarotene-exposed and -naïve groups, respectively. The median duration of response was 5.6 months in the bexarotene-exposed patients and was not reached at data cutoff in the bexarotene-naïve patients. Additional responses were observed when less-stringent progression criteria were used. The most common adverse events were thrombocytopenia, diarrhoea, fatigue and nausea. Thrombocytopenia and neutropenia were the only grade 3/4 adverse events in >5% of patients and were manageable. CONCLUSION: Despite a very conservative definition of disease progression, panobinostat demonstrated activity with a manageable safety profile in bexarotene-exposed and -naïve CTCL patients. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00425555.