Sustained Pericarditis Recurrence Risk Reduction With Long-Term Rilonacept.

BACKGROUND: Rilonacept, a once-weekly interleukin-1 alpha and beta cytokine trap, reduced pericarditis recurrence in the phase 3 study, RHAPSODY (Rilonacept Inhibition of Interleukin-1 Alpha and Beta for Recurrent Pericarditis: A Pivotal Symptomatology and Outcomes Study). The RHAPSODY long-term extension further explored recurrent pericarditis natural history and treatment duration decision-making during 24 additional months of open-label rilonacept treatment. METHODS AND RESULTS: Seventy-four patients commenced the long-term extension, with a median (maximum) total rilonacept duration of 22 (35) months. Individually, 18 months after the most proximal pericarditis recurrence, investigators decided to continue rilonacept on study, suspend rilonacept for off-treatment observation (rescue allowed), or discontinue the study. The annualized incidence of pericarditis recurrence on rilonacept up to the 18-month decision milestone was 0.04 events/patient-year versus 4.4 events/patient-year prestudy while on oral therapies. At the 18-month decision milestone, 64% (33/52) continued rilonacept, 15% (8/52) suspended rilonacept for observation, and 21% (11/52) discontinued the study. Among the 33 patients (1/33; 3.0%) continuing rilonacept (median time to recurrence could not be estimated due to too few events), a single recurrence occurred 4 weeks after a treatment interruption. Among patients suspending rilonacept, 75% (6/8) experienced recurrence (median time to recurrence, 11.8 weeks [95% CI, 3.7 weeks to not estimable]). There was a 98% reduction in risk of pericarditis recurrence among patients continuing rilonacept treatment after the 18-month decision milestone versus those suspending treatment for observation (hazard ratio, 0.02; P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In the RHAPSODY long-term extension, continued rilonacept treatment resulted in continued response; treatment suspension at the 18-month decision milestone was associated with pericarditis recurrence. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT03737110.

Pooled Data Analysis of the Long-Term Treatment Effects of Tolvaptan in ADPKD.

Introduction: In 1- and 3-year randomized trials, tolvaptan slowed kidney function decline in subjects with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) at risk of rapid progression. The 3-year trial also evaluated effects on total kidney volume (TKV); slowing of TKV growth was demonstrated. Subjects were followed in open-label extension trials. To characterize longer-term effects of treatment, an analysis was conducted comparing tolvaptan-treated subjects with subjects from standard of care (SOC) ADPKD studies without tolvaptan. Methods: This was a pooled, longitudinal analysis of data from 8 tolvaptan clinical trials and 5 studies without tolvaptan (natural history or SOC) in ADPKD. Data from subjects who participated in multiple studies were linked for longer follow-up. Outcomes were rates of change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and TKV over 5.5 years. To control for heterogeneity in disease characteristics between tolvaptan and SOC treatment groups, analysis populations matched for baseline demographic and disease characteristics were constructed. Results: Matched analysis (n = 1186 in each treatment group) indicated that tolvaptan slowed annualized eGFR decline by 1.01 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (P < 0.001) versus SOC over 5.5 years. An analysis conducted on the full, unmatched data set (tolvaptan: n = 2928; SOC: n = 4189) confirmed significant reduction in annual eGFR decline. Among subjects with TKV data, TKV was significantly reduced at years 1, 3, and 5 for tolvaptan versus SOC in both matched and full data sets. Conclusion: Comparison of a pooled tolvaptan cohort to a pooled control cohort with ADPKD supports longer-term treatment effects of tolvaptan.