AstraZeneca will present over 60 abstracts across its industry-leading Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM) portfolio and from Alexion, AstraZeneca’s Rare Disease group, at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week from 3-6 November 2022 and the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions occurring 5-7 November 2022.
With robust science across both medical congresses, AstraZeneca demonstrates its ambition to fundamentally transform cardiorenal care and advance patient outcomes by unravelling the underlying causes of disease, developing diagnostic strategies and delivering innovative, life-changing solutions for the millions of people affected by this interconnected spectrum of diseases. Additionally, Alexion will present data highlighting scientific advancements that further the understanding of complement inhibition in the treatment of rare nephrology diseases.
Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, said: “Scientific advances are revealing the connection between cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases, helping to drive earlier diagnosis and opportunities for integrated treatment approaches. We look forward to sharing insights across our portfolio, including our early science targeting specific disease drivers and data from both the DELIVER and DAPA-CKD Phase III trials which build on the science demonstrating the unique cardiorenal protection and mortality benefit of Farxiga.”
Farxiga in heart failure (HF) – setting a new standard in HF management
New late-breaking data from the DELIVER Phase III trial presented at AHA assess the effects of Farxiga on health status, on patients with recurrent cardiac events, the impact based on use of other therapies, on gender or race and more1-5. These data reinforce the joint 2022 guidelines issued by AHA, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA), recommending earlier diagnosis and earlier initiation of guideline-directed medical treatment in patients with HF6. Altogether, the pooled analysis from the Phase III DELIVER and DAPA-HF trials underpins the role of Farxiga in clinical practice as a treatment that can be initiated right away while waiting for ejection fraction (EF) to be measured and that showed mortality benefit across the full EF range7.
Farxiga in chronic kidney disease (CKD) – reinforcing leadership in CKD
New subgroup data from the DAPA-CKD Phase III trial assess effect in patients with microalbuminuria, how Farxiga use impacts hospital admissions and healthcare utilisation and highlights AstraZeneca’s commitment to help prevent or slow the progression of CKD in this large patient population8-10. These data presented at ASN also support recent updates to the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines, which highlight the need for preventive treatment strategies that reduce the risk of adverse kidney and cardiovascular (CV) outcomes11.
REVEAL-CKD – emphasising the need for earlier diagnosis
REVEAL-CKD data also shed light on the importance of earlier diagnosis of CKD, with the prevalence of undiagnosed CKD continuing to rise. REVEAL-CKD further demonstrated that once a diagnosis was made, patients did receive timely CKD monitoring and management of their disease, leading to patient benefits12.
Lokelma – advancing proactive hyperkalaemia (HK) management
New Lokelma data from the comprehensive CRYSTALIZE evidence programme, which is poised to disrupt the current management of HK, highlight the common and detrimental effects of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASi) down titration and/or discontinuation, resulting in suboptimal care of patients with CKD and/or HF, as well as patient preference amongst potassium (K+) binder treatments13,14. The 2020 and 2021 KDIGO15,16, 2021 European Society of Cardiology (ESC)17 and 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA guidelines6 recognise novel K+ binders like Lokelma as an important management option to optimise RAASi therapy, a group of medicines key to slowing progression and reducing mortality risk in patients with CKD and/or HF.
Compass Programme – highlighting the importance of earlier diagnosis in hereditary amyloid transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR)
Findings from the Compass Programme provide important insights on genetic testing for ATTR. Amyloidosis is progressive and may be systemic, affecting different organs within the body (i.e., heart, kidneys, peripheral nerves)18.
Amyloidosis diseases can be complex, difficult to diagnose and, in many cases, fatal if left untreated19-21. AstraZeneca, in partnership with Ionis, and Alexion, are advancing multiple assets and novel science in amyloidosis, including treatments for ATTR, cardiomyopathy (CM) and polyneuropathy (PN), as well as amyloid light chain (AL) amyloidosis.
Rare nephrology – expanding our leadership in complement inhibition
Alexion will present an analysis from the global atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) registry involving long-term outcomes in patients who are treated with Soliris, a characterisation of patients with thrombotic microangiopathy and triggering or associated events from the aHUS registry, as well as a tool (PLASMIC score) that may aid in the diagnosis of aHUS22-24.
Alexion is also expanding its focus in rare nephrology with multiple assets in its clinical development programmes – including Ultomiris (a C5 inhibitor) and ALXN2050 (an oral factor D inhibitor) – which are being investigated as potential treatments for proliferative lupus nephritis (LN) and immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). The presentations at ASN, which include clinical trial and real-world data across several therapeutic areas, will help to advance the understanding of these rare nephrology diseases and foster scientific exchange22-26.
AstraZeneca abstracts at ASN Kidney Week 2022 include:
