SAN FRANCISCO (FRONTLINE MEDICAL NEWS) – A first-in-class investigational agent called sotatercept appears to be safe and to improve hematologic parameters in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome or nonproliferative chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and anemia requiring transfusion, a study showed.
In the open-label phase II dose-finding study of sotatercept in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or nonproliferative chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML), hematologic improvement according to International Working Group (IWG) 2006 criteria was seen in 24 of 53 evaluable patients, said Dr. Rami Komrokji of the Moffitt Cancer Center,Tampa.
The patients were all refractory to, or were deemed to have a low chance of responding to, an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA), Dr. Komrokji said at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.
“A medication like sotatercept would probably have a role in the management of anemia in lower-risk MDS patients. The treatment is administered every 3 weeks, which makes it also logistically easier for the patients to get the treatment. I don’t think we have seen any safety concern, at least at this point, about the chronic use of this medication,” he said in an interview.
Sotatercept (ACE-011) is an activin type IIA receptor fusion protein that acts on late-stage erythropoiesis to increase the release of mature erythrocytes into circulation. The mechanism of action is distinct from that of erythropoietins such as epoetin alfa (Procrit, Epogen) or darbapoietin alfa (Aranesp).
In clinical trials with healthy volunteers, sotatercept has been shown to increase hemoglobin levels, suggesting that it could help to reduce anemia and perhaps lessen dependence on transfusions among patients with lower-risk MDS, Dr. Komrokji said.
He and his colleagues at centers in the United States and France enrolled patients with low-risk or intermediate-1–risk MDS as defined by the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS), or nonproliferative CMML (fewer than 13,000 white blood cells per microliter). The patients had to have anemia requiring at least 2 red blood cell (RBC) transfusions in the 12 weeks before enrollment for hemoglobin levels below 9.0 g/dL, and no response, loss of response, or a low chance of response to an ESA. Those patients with serum erythropoietin levels greater than 500 mIU/mL were considered to have a low chance of responding to an ESA.
The patients received subcutaneous injections of sotatercept at doses of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, or 1.0 mg/kg once every 3 weeks.
As noted, the rate of overall hematologic improvement by IWG 2006 criteria was 45%, occurring in 24 of 53 patients available for evaluation. Five of 44 patients with a high transfusion burden (4 or more RBC units required within 8 weeks) were able to be free of RBC transfusions for at least 8 weeks, as were 5 of 9 with a low transfusion burden (fewer than 4 RBC units over a period of 8 weeks).
Looking at the efficacy in patients with a high transfusion burden, the investigators found that 4 of 6 assigned to the 0.3-mg/kg dose group and 8 of 14 assigned to the 1-mg/kg dose group had a reduction in transfusion burden. The median duration of effect was 106 days, with the longest response lasting for 150 days.
There were no major adverse events in the study, and no apparent increase in risk for thrombosis, as had been seen in some studies of ESAs. Another theoretical risk with this type of agent is hypertension, but there was only one grade 3 case and no grade 4 cases of hypertension in the study, Dr. Komrokji said.
Sotatercept is currently in phase II trials for anemia related to hematologic malignancies and other diseases.
