Phase 1b/2a Study Assessing the Safety and Efficacy of Felzartamab in Anti-Phospholipase A2 Receptor Autoantibody-Positive Primary Membranous Nephropathy.

Introduction: Primary membranous nephropathy (PMN) is most often caused by autoantibodies to phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R). M-PLACE (NCT04145440) is an open-label, phase 1b/2a study that assessed the safety and efficacy of the fully human anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody felzartamab in high-risk anti-PLA2R+ PMN. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed or relapsed PMN (cohort 1 [C1]; n = 18) or PMN refractory to immunosuppressive therapy (IST) (cohort 2 [C2]; n = 13) received 9 infusions of felzartamab 16 mg/kg in the 24-week treatment period, followed by a 28-week follow-up. The primary end point was the incidence and severity of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs). Results: A total of 31 patients were enrolled and received felzartamab. Twenty-seven patients (87.1%) had TEAEs, including infusion-related reactions (IRRs) (29.0%), hypogammaglobulinemia (25.8%), peripheral edema (19.4%), and nausea (16.1%). Five patients (16.1%) had serious TEAEs that all resolved. Immunologic response (anti-PLA2R titer reduction ≥50%) was achieved by 20 of 26 efficacy-evaluable patients (76.9%) (C1, 13/15 [86.7%]; C2, 7/11 [63.6%]). Anti-PLA2R titer reductions were rapid (week 1 response, 44.0%; response 7 months after last felzartamab dose [end of study, EOS], 53.8%). Partial proteinuria remission (urine protein-to-creatinine ratio [UPCR] reduction ≥50%, UPCR <3.0 g/g, and stable estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR]) was achieved by 9 of 26 patients (34.6%) (C1, 7/15 [46.7%]; C2, 2/11 [18.2%]) before or at EOS (median follow-up, 366 days). Serum albumin increased from baseline to EOS in 20 of 26 patients (76.9%) (C1, 12/15 [80.0%]; C2, 8/11 [72.7%]). Conclusion: In this population with high-risk anti-PLA2R+ PMN, felzartamab was tolerated and resulted in rapid partial and complete immunologic responses and partial improvements in proteinuria and serum albumin in some patients.

Treatment with SDZ-ADL, an Adalimumab Biosimilar, in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis, or Psoriatic Arthritis: Results of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures from Two Phase III Studies (ADMYRA and ADACCESS).

BACKGROUND: SDZ-ADL (GP2017; Sandoz GmbH, Austria) is an EMA-/FDA-approved adalimumab biosimilar. The effect of SDZ-ADL on quality of life (QoL) and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) was assessed as part of two phase III studies, one in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis (PsO; ADACCESS) and the other in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA; ADMYRA). Additionally, ADACCESS included patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). METHODS: ADACCESS included 465 patients with PsO, whereas ADMYRA included 353 patients with RA. Both studies evaluated and confirmed equivalent efficacy, similar safety, and immunogenicity of SDZ-ADL with reference adalimumab (ref-ADL). A third of patients underwent multiple (four) treatment switches between study treatments starting at Week 17 (ADACCESS); all patients switched from ref-ADL to SDZ-ADL at Week 24 (ADMYRA). Assessed PROs included Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and EuroQol five-dimension health status questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) in ADACCESS, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue Scale (FACIT-Fatigue) score in ADMYRA, and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) in both studies. RESULTS: In both studies, baseline scores for all PRO assessments were comparable between the two treatment groups. In ADACCESS, mean DLQI decreased from baseline in both groups, and the mean (standard deviation [SD]) percent reductions from baseline in DLQI were comparable between groups at Week 17 (SDZ-ADL, - 64.5 [80.3]; ref-ADL, - 70.6 [41.7]), which were sustained after the switch at Week 51 ('continued SDZ-ADL,' - 79.7 [36.2]; 'continued ref-ADL,' - 80.8 [44.6]; 'switched to SDZ-ADL,' - 70.7 [32.2]; 'switched to ref-ADL,' - 69.3 [49.6]). In ADACCESS, the proportion of patients with an EQ-5D-5L score of 1 (no problems) increased from baseline for all five dimensions in all treatment groups and was comparable between treatment groups at Week 51. In ADACCESS, in patients with PsA at baseline, mean (SD) HAQ-DI scores decreased from baseline in both treatment groups, and scores were comparable between groups at Week 17 (SDZ-ADL, 0.5 [0.6]; ref-ADL, 0.5 [0.6]) and after switching at Week 51 ('continued SDZ-ADL,' 0.4 [0.5]; 'continued ref-ADL,' 0.4 [0.6]; 'switched to SDZ-ADL,' 0.5 [0.8]; 'switched to ref-ADL,' 0.7 [0.6]). In ADMYRA, proportion of patients achieving HAQ-DI in the normal range (≤ 0.5) was comparable between treatment groups at Week 24 (SDZ-ADL, 37.8%; ref-ADL, 36.3%) and after switching at Week 48 ('SDZ-ADL,' 41.6%; 'ref-ADL/switched to SDZ-ADL,' 40.0%). In ADMYRA, mean FACIT-Fatigue scores increased from baseline in both treatment groups. At Week 24, mean (SD) percent change from baseline in the FACIT-Fatigue scores was 75.4 (135.5) in SDZ-ADL and 73.0 (96.3) in ref-ADL groups; the scores were sustained after switching at Week 48. CONCLUSION: Treatment with SDZ-ADL and ref-ADL resulted in comparable improvements in PROs as well as QoL scores across the three diseases, PsO, PsA, and RA. Switching between SDZ-ADL and ref-ADL had no negative impact on PROs across the reported period. CLINICAL TRIALS. GOV IDENTIFIER: NCT02744755, NCT02016105.

Switching to Biosimilar SDZ-ADL in Patients with Moderate-to-Severe Active Rheumatoid Arthritis: 48-Week Efficacy, Safety and Immunogenicity Results From the Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind ADMYRA Study.

BACKGROUND: Sandoz adalimumab SDZ-ADL (GP-2017) is an approved adalimumab biosimilar with similar efficacy and comparable safety and immunogenicity to reference adalimumab (ref-ADL) as confirmed by analytical, pharmacokinetic and confirmatory studies. ADMYRA, a phase III double-blind study, was conducted with an aim to generate efficacy, safety and immunogenicity comparability data in patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) having inadequate response to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) including methotrexate (MTX). The study also evaluated an aspect of 'switching' reference product to the biosimilar in terms of efficacy, safety and immunogenicity up to Week 48. METHODS: Eligible patients (N = 353) were randomized 1:1 to receive subcutaneous (sc) SDZ-ADL 40 mg (n = 177) or ref-ADL (n = 176) every other week from Week 0 to Week 24. At Week 24, all patients with at least a moderate response by Disease Activity Score-28 including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) in the SDZ-ADL group continued SDZ-ADL (n = 159), and in the ref-ADL group were switched to SDZ-ADL (n = 166), treated for up to 46 weeks. The primary endpoint was change in DAS28-CRP from baseline at Week 12. Other efficacy endpoints included proportion of patients with European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response, EULAR remission, Boolean remission, safety and immunogenicity. RESULTS: The DAS28-CRP score changes from baseline at Week 12 were similar between SDZ-ADL (- 2.16) and ref-ADL (- 2.18) with a mean difference (95% CI) of 0.02 (- 0.24 to 0.27), which was within the pre-specified equivalence margin of ± 0.6. After switching treatment from ref-ADL to SDZ-ADL, the mean DAS28-CRP change was similar between the SDZ-ADL and 'ref-ADL/switched SDZ-ADL' group (- 3.09 vs - 3.05). The proportion of patients with good/moderate EULAR response was 69.2%/29.0% in the SDZ-ADL group and 68.0%/29.6% in the 'ref-ADL/switched SDZ-ADL' group. The proportion of patients in EULAR remission was 51.4% and 54.4% and in Boolean remission was 16.8% and 21.6% for SDZ-ADL and 'ref-ADL/switched SDZ-ADL' groups, respectively. The secondary endpoints were similar across the treatment groups. The incidence of adverse events (AEs) and injection-site reactions were low and similar between SDZ-ADL and 'ref-ADL/switched SDZ-ADL' groups (AEs 70.6% vs 68.8%, injection-site reactions 4.0% vs 6.3%), and most of these patients experienced AEs of mild or moderate severity. Antidrug antibodies were detected in 24.2% and 25.6% of patients treated with SDZ-ADL and 'ref-ADL/switched SDZ-ADL', respectively, from baseline to Week 48, of which 72.5% in SDZ-ADL and 79.1% in 'ref-ADL/switched SDZ-ADL' groups were neutralizing. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with moderate-to-severe RA who had an inadequate response to DMARDs, SDZ-ADL demonstrated a similar efficacy and a comparable safety and immunogenicity profile to ref-ADL. Efficacy was sustained after switching from ref-ADL to SDZ-ADL with no impact on safety (NCT02744755).

Differences in immunogenicity associated with non-product related variability: insights from two pharmacokinetic studies using GP2017, an adalimumab biosimilar.

Introduction: Antidrug antibody (ADA) development is known to occur with adalimumab treatment and impacts adalimumab exposure. Here, we compare the impact of immunogenicity on pharmacokinetics (PK) across two randomized PK studies of GP2017, an approved biosimilar adalimumab, in healthy subjects. Methods: Healthy male subjects (N= 107 in study GP17-104; N= 90 in study GP17-103) received a single 40 mg subcutaneous injection of the same GP2017 drug product batch. Cross-study PK comparison was performed for log-transformed Cmax, AUC0-360h, AUC0-last, and AUC0-inf, using an ANCOVA model. Results: The proportion of ADA-positive subjects was higher in GP17-103 (in total 71.1%) vs. GP17-104 (57.9%). Comparison of GP2017 PK between studies showed that the exposure was lower in GP17-103 vs GP17-104, with 90% confidence intervals (CIs) for geometric mean ratios of AUC0-last and AUC0-inf being outside the range of 0.80-1.25. A subgroup analysis showed that in ADA-negative subjects 90% CIs for all PK parameters were within range, with geometric mean ratios close to 1.00. Conclusion: The differences in GP2017 PK between the two groups are not considered to be product-related, but may be due to currently unknown factors related to differences between the two study populations.

GP2017, an adalimumab biosimilar: pharmacokinetic similarity to its reference medicine and pharmacokinetics comparison of different administration methods.

Background: To compare the pharmacokinetics of Sandoz biosimilar adalimumab (GP2017) with reference adalimumab (Humira) in healthy volunteers (PK similarity study) and to compare the pharmacokinetics of GP2017 administered by autoinjector (AI) or prefilled syringe (PFS; delivery study). Methods: Healthy male subjects were randomized to receive a single 40 mg subcutaneous injection of GP2017, US-licensed or EU-authorized reference adalimumab (US/EU-Humira; PK similarity study) or a single 40 mg subcutaneous injection of GP2017 via AI or PFS (delivery study). Pharmacokinetics, safety, and immunogenicity were assessed over 72 days post-injection. Results: The geometric mean ratios (90% confidence intervals) for Cmax and AUC0-inf were 1.05 (0.99-1.11) and 1.04 (0.96-1.13) for GP2017/EU-Humira and 1.00 (0.94-1.06) and 1.08 (1.00-1.18) for GP2017/US-Humira, all within the prespecified margin of 0.80-1.25 (PK similarity study). Pharmacokinetic parameters of GP2017 matched between AI and PFS (delivery study). Safety and immunogenicity were similar across groups in both studies. Conclusion: PK similarity between GP2017, EU- and US-Humira was demonstrated. The safety profile of GP2017 was consistent with previous reports for Humira. These results contribute to the 'totality-of-the-evidence' supporting biosimilarity of GP2017 to Humira. PK and tolerability were equivalent for GP2017 dosed by AI or PFS. Trial registration: PK similarity study EudraCT no. 2015-000579-28; Delivery study: EudraCT no. 2014-002879-29.