Lexaptepid Pegol (NOX-H94) in ESA-hyporesponsive Anemia in Dialysis Patients

Dialysis patients regularly suffer from anemia which may be caused by various contributing factors, alone or in combination, including blood loss, low erythropoietin and iron sequestration. In most patients, the anemia is responsive to treatment with erythropoietin or other erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESA) alone or in combination with intravenous (i.v.) iron. In about 10% of patients however, the anaemia does not respond appropriately to this standard treatment and high to very high doses of ESA and i.v. iron are used to maintain acceptable hemoglobin concentrations. In these patients, hepcidin was identified as a causative factor leading to anemia of chronic disease with functional iron deficiency and ESA-hyporesponsiveness. The Spiegelmer lexaptepid pegol (NOX-H94) offers a hepcidin-specific approach to the treatment of anemia of chronic disease. The safety and the activity of lexaptepid pegol are supported by data from healthy subjects and patients with multiple myeloma or lymphoma. The present study in dialysis patients with functional iron deficiency and ESA-hyporesponsiveness is conducted to demonstrate the safety of lexaptepid pegol in this population, to investigate its pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) profiles and its efficacy in increasing haemoglobin (Hb) in dialysis patients.