The Effect of Concizumab Prophylaxis on Target Joints, Resolution and Joint Bleeds in Patients With Hemophilia A or B With or Without Inhibitors in Phase 3 Clinical Trials
Authors: Castaman Giancarlo , Abraham Aby , Angchaisuksiri Pantep , Villarreal Martinez Laura , Nogami Keiji , Sathar Jameela , Shen Chunduo , Thaung Zaw Jay Jay , Young Guy 
Published: December 2023

Background:
Concizumab is a recombinant anti-tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) monoclonal antibody under development as a once-daily subcutaneous prophylactic treatment for hemophilia patients with and without inhibitors, and has the potential to be one of the first subcutaneous treatment options for hemophilia B. Recurring joint bleeds may cause hemophilic arthropathy and reduce the quality of life of patients with hemophilia (van Vulpen LFD et al. Haemophilia. 2018; 24 Suppl 6:44-49). Results on target joints, their resolution, and joint bleeds in patients with hemophilia (hemophilia A or B with inhibitors [HAwI or HBwI] or without inhibitors [HA or HB]) from the prospective, multicenter, open-label explorer7 (NCT04083781) and explorer8 (NCT04082429) phase 3 concizumab clinical trials at the 56-week cut-off are presented.
Aims:
To assess and communicate the effect of longer term (56 weeks) concizumab prophylaxis (PPX) on target joints, their resolution, and joint bleeds in patients with hemophilia A or B with or without inhibitors.
Methods:
After informed consent/ethics committee approval were obtained, patients in both explorer7 and explorer8 trials were exposed to no PPX (arm 1) or concizumab PPX (arms 2-4) based on their treatment regimen before the trial. After the main part of the trial, all patients
(arms 1-4) could continue in the extension part of the trial receiving concizumab for up to 136 weeks. Upon treatment restart following a treatment pause due to thromboembolic events, patients received a 1.0 mg/kg concizumab loading dose on Day 1, followed by an initial 0.20 mg/kg daily dose starting on Day 2, with potential adjustment to 0.15 or 0.25 mg/kg based on measured plasma concizumab concentration after week 4. The data presented here are from the 56-week cut-off that was defined as when all patients had completed the visit after 56 weeks or permanently discontinued treatment. Annualized bleeding rate (ABR) of joint bleeds was evaluated for all patients. Target joints at baseline by age group and target joint resolutions during the trial were assessed separately for this abstract. Target joints were defined as 3 or more spontaneous bleeds into a single joint within a consecutive 6-month period, and target joints were deemed resolved when there have been ≤2 bleeding episodes in the joint during the previous 12 months of exposure (Blanchette VS et al. J Thromb Haemost. 2014;12(11):1935-1939).
Results:
A total of 144 patients with HA or HB and a total of 127 patients with HAwI or HBwI were exposed to concizumab PPX at the 56-week cut-off. Upon treatment restart, 144 patients with HA or HB and 112 patients with HAwI or HBwI were included in the studies and were allocated to the new concizumab PPX dosing regimen, of which the majority were adults (HA + HB: 105; HAwI + HBwI: 72), some were adolescents (12-17 years) (HA + HB: 36; HAwI + HBwI: 40), and a few were elderly/very elderly (65-84 years) (HA + HB: 3; HAwI + HBwI: 0). Patients who had at least one target joint at baseline (HA + HB: adults [45/108], adolescents [18/36]; HAwI + HBwI: adults [35/72], adolescents [20/40]) mostly reported target joints in the ankle, elbow, and knee, and a few in the hip and shoulder, as presented per age group in Table 1. Of these patients who were exposed to concizumab PPX for at least 12 months, 49 patients with HA or HB reported a total of 80 target joints at baseline, of which 69 (86.3%) were resolved at the 56-week cut-off, and 49 patients with HAwI or HBwI reported 85 target joints at baseline, of which 78 (91.8%) were resolved at the 56-week cut-off. Most target joints were resolved within 12 months after treatment start (median [25th; 75th percentile])( 12.0 months [12.0; 12.0]), both for patients with HA or HB and HAwI or HBwI. The median ABRs for treated spontaneous and traumatic target joint bleeding episodes were 0.0 for patients with HA or HB and HAwI or HBwI, and the median ABRs for treated spontaneous and traumatic joint bleeding episodes were 1.3 for patients with HA or HB and 0.0 for patients with HAwI or HBwI at the 56-week cut-off, as presented in Table 2.
Conclusions:
Once-daily, subcutaneous concizumab prophylaxis resolved 86.3% of target joints in patients with HA or HB, and 91.8% of target joints in patients with HAwI or HBwI, most patients within 12.0 months. The median ABRs for treated spontaneous and traumatic target joint bleeding episodes at 56 weeks for both patients with HA or HB and HAwI or HBwI were 0.0.