Positive results from meta-analysis of Ferinject

Vifor Pharma, a company of the Swiss Galenica Group (GALN: SIX), has presented positive results of a meta-analysis of its lead product Ferinject (ferric carboxymaltose) at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress taking place in London, UK.

This meta-analysis was performed using the four available completed double-blind trials conducted in ambulatory patients with systolic chronic heart failure (CHF) and iron deficiency (ID) which compared the efficacy and safety of intravenous (iv) iron therapy with Ferinject against placebo. These four studies, including the FAIR-HF and CONFIRM-HF studies, previously demonstrated that Ferinject improved exercise capacity, symptoms and quality of life in patients with CHF and ID.

Although a lower occurrence for hospitalization and death was noted in these studies, they were not powered to show differences in hospitalizations and mortality between Ferinject and placebo. This meta-analysis now demonstrates that treatment with Ferinject was associated with a significant 41% reduction in the risk of recurrent cardiovascular (CV) hospitalization or CV death [rate ratio (95% CI): 0.59 (0.40-0.88), p=0.009].