Conditions: Anemia
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 490
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This 2 arm study will compare the efficacy and safety of Mircera and darbepoetin alfa, administered at extended dosing intervals, in the maintenance treatment of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who are on hemodialysis. Eligible patients receiving once-weekly intravenous (IV) darbepoetin alfa maintenance treatment will be randomized to receive either intravenous Mircera once a month (at a starting dose of 120, 200 or 360 micrograms/month, depending on the weekly dose of darbepoetin alfa prior to start of study) or intravenous darbepoetin alfa every 2 weeks before switching to once monthly administration. The anticipated time on study treatment is 3-12 months, and the target sample size is 100-500 individuals.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Eligible participants with anemia in CKD who were on hemodialysis will receive methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta (MIRCERA \[RO0503821\]) IV once every month up to 52 weeks. The starting dose of MIRCERA which will be administered during the treatment period will depend on the dose of darbepoetin alfa administered during screening period i.e., 120, 200 and 360 mcg for weekly darbepoetin alfa doses of \<40, 40-80, and \>80 mcg, respectively. arm 2: Eligible participants with anemia in CKD who were on hemodialysis will receive darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp) IV once every two weeks up to 26 weeks and darbepoetin alfa IV twice the dose than earlier, once every month from Week 27 up to Week 52.

Interventions: intervention 1: Darbepoetin alfa intervention 2: methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta [Mircera]
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: As prescribed, iv. intervention 2: 120, 200 or 360 micrograms iv / month, starting dose

Protocol document: