US nephrologists view hyperphosphatemia treatment

11 July 2014

Surveyed nephrologists report awareness of the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma's new phosphate binder Velphoro (sucroferric oxyhydroxide), which was approved by the FDA last fall for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients on dialysis.

Among other key findings from a new report by Decision Resources Group, titled Treatment Trends: Nephrology (US) Q2 2014, are the following.

Bundling: Based on mean ratings, surveyed nephrologists are under the most pressure from their dialysis unit to restrict measurement of non-essential labs, to use lower doses of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) and to have more stringent hemoglobin targets resulting in less ESA use. Surveyed nephrologists believe that the delay of inclusion of oral dialysis drugs into the end-stage renal disease payment bundle will similarly impact future use of phosphate binders, oral iron and Amgen's (Nasdaq: AMGN) Sensipar (cinacalcet).
IV Iron patient share in hemodialysis (HD): American Regent/Fresenius Medical Care's Venofer (iron sucrose injection) has significantly declined in reported HD patient share compared with this time period last year.
Nephrologists' perceptions of late-stage compounds in clinical development: The report discusses aided familiarity, interest and percentage of patients as likely candidates for 12 renal products in development after review of product profiles. New product profiles added to this quarter's report, include:

La Jolla Pharmaceutical's (Nasdaq: LJPC) GCS-100: Nearly half of nephrologists report high interest in the product, which was higher than all other renal anemia and bone mineral metabolism products in late-stage development covered in this study.
GlaxoSmithKline's (LSE: GSK) GSK-1278863A: Nearly one-third of nephrologists report high interest in this oral renal anemia product.
Shield Therapeutics' ST-10: Nearly a third of nephrologists report high interest in this oral ferric iron therapy.
Amgen's velcalcetide (AMG 416): Should this intravenous therapy for secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) receive FDA approval, nephrologists expect significantly higher usage in the dialysis versus the CKD non-dialysis (ND) setting.
OPKO Health's (NYSE: OPK) Rayaldee: While familiarity is low, over 40 percent of nephrologists report high interest in this oral vitamin D therapy used to treat SHPT being tested in CKD stage 3 and stage 4 patients, after review of a product profile.

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