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Avacopan vs Reduced-dose Glucocorticoids in ANCA-associated Vasculitis

Phase 4
Recruiting
Conditions
ANCA Associated Vasculitis (AAV)
Interventions
Drug: Avacopan, prednisolone and rituximab
Registration Number
NCT06611696
Lead Sponsor
Chiba University
Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if avacopan in combination with short-term (4 weeks) reduced-dose glucocorticoid and rituximab works to treat patients with newly-onset ANCA-associated vasculitis. It will also learn about the long-term safety of avacopan. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Is avacopan in combination with short-term reduced-dose glucocorticoid and rituximab as effective as the combination of 20 week reduced-dose glucocorticoid and rituximab in the proportion of the patients achieving remission? Does avacopan lower the relapse rate compared to the 6 monthly rituximab maintenance therapy? What medical problems do participants have when taking long-term avacopan?

Participants will:

Be treated with avacopan in combination with short-term (until 4 weeks) reduced-dose glucocorticoid and rituximab (at 0 week) or reduced-dose glucocorticoid (until 20 weeks) and rituximab (at 0, 26, 52 and 78 weeks).

Be assessed at 0, 4, 8, 16, 26, 52, 78 and 104 weeks regarding disease status (remission/relapse), disease activity by Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score ver3, disease damage by Vasculitis Damage Index and adverse events.

The primary endpoint is remission rates at 26 weeks.

Detailed Description

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis is characterized by a small to medium-size vasculitis and the presence of ANCA. ANCA-associated vasculitis includes microscopic polyangiitis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis. ANCA-associated vasculitis can be a life-threatening disease and the mortality is 80% at 1 year in untreated patients. In 2010s, standard therapies for remission induction of ANCA-associated vasculitis were the combination of high-dose glucocorticoids and either cyclophosphamide or rituximab. Although those therapies have high remission rates of 80-90%, mortality at 5 years is still high at 10-20% mainly due to treatments-related adverse events.

In the LoVAS trial (2021, JAMA), the combination of reduced-dose glucocorticoid and rituximab showed non-inferiority to high-dose glucocorticoid and rituximab in remission rates at 6 months. In addition, adverse events were dramatically less in the reduced-dose group than in the high-dose group.

In the ADVOCATE trial (2021, NEJM), the combination of avacopan, newly developed complement C5a inhibitor, and rituximab or cyclophosphamide showed non-inferiority to high-dose glucocorticoid and rituximab or cyclophosphamide in remission rates at 6 months. The avacopan group was allowed to use glucocorticoid within 1 month from the trial entry, and over 80% of patients used glucocorticoid indeed. Regarding adverse events, they were less in the avacopan group than in the glucocorticoid group.

Although both the reduced-dose glucocorticoid regimen in the LoVAS trial and the avacopan regimen in the ADVOCATE trial are effective and safe for patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis, there is no trial directly comparing both regimens at the moment. Thus, in this multicenter, open-label, randomized, non-ineriority, phase 4 trial, we aim to investigate if the combination of avacoapn, short-term (4 weeks) reduced-dose glucocorticoid and rituximab is non-inferior to the combination of reduced-dose glucocorticoid (20 weeks) and rituximab. We also compare safety profiles and disease relapse between the two groups. A total of 160 patients with new-onset ANCA-associated vasculitis (microscopic polyangiitis and granulomatosis with polyangiitis) will be recruited and randomized to the two treatments groups. The primary end point is remission rate at 26 weeks, and the patients will be followed until 104 weeks for assessing disease relapse and long-term safety.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
160
Inclusion Criteria
  1. Provision of written informed consent by a patient or a surrogate decision maker
  2. Age=>18 years
  3. New clinical diagnosis of ANCA-associated vasculitis (granulomatosis with polyangiitis, microscopic polyangiitis) consistent with the 2012 Chapel Hill consensus definitions and 2022 EULAR/ACR classification criteria
  4. Positive test by ELISA, CLEIA or FEIA for proteinase 3-ANCA or myeloperoxidase-ANCA
Exclusion Criteria
  1. Prior treatment for ANCA-associated vasculitis before trial entry
  2. ANCA-associated vasculitis related glomerulonephritis (eGFR less than 15ml/min) or alveolar hemorrhage (oxygen inhalation more than 2L/min)
  3. Presence of another multisystem autoimmune disease
  4. Known infection with HIV; a past or current history of hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus infection
  5. Desire to bear children, pregnancy or lactating
  6. History of malignancy within the past 5 years or any evidence of persistent malignancy
  7. Ongoing or recent (last 1 year) evidence of active tuberculosis
  8. History of severe allergy or anaphylaxis to monoclonal antibody therapy
  9. Any concomitant condition anticipated to likely require oral systemic glucocorticoids, immunosuppressants, biologics, plasma exchange or IVIg
  10. Any biological B cell depleting agent (such as rituximab or belimumab)-use within the past 6 months
  11. Past history of medication of avacopan
  12. Patients can not take avacopan and prednisolone orally
  13. Other conditions, in the investigator's opinion, inappropriate for the trial entry

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Glucocorticoid groupPrednisolone and rituximabPrednisolone will be commenced with dose of 0.5mg/kg/day and will be tapered and off within 5 months. If a patient fails to achieve BVAS=0 or normalization of CRP levels or normalization of ANCA levels, an investigator can keep 5mg/day of prednisolone and postpone the procedure of stopping prednisolone. Patients will also receive rituximab (375mg/m2/w x4). During remission maintenance phase (6-24 months),, patients will receive rituximab (500mg/body) every 6 months as remission maintenance therapy. In the case of inadequate response to the combination therapy of prednisolone and rituximab, additional administration of prednisolone 20mg/day (less than 2 weeks) can be allowed as the rescue therapy. During remission maintenance phase, in the case of minor relapse, additional administration of prednisolone 20mg/day (less than 2 weeks) can be allowed as the rescue therapy. Minor relapse is defined as relapse with no major BVAS item.
Avacopan groupAvacopan, prednisolone and rituximabPrednisolone will be commenced with dose of 0.5mg/kg/day and will be tapered and off within 1 months. Patients will also receive avacopan (60mg/day) and rituximab (375mg/m2/w x4). During remission maintenance phase (6-24 months), patients will receive avacopan (60mg/day) as remission maintenance therapy until the trial end. In the case of inadequate response to the combination therapy of avacopan, prednisolone and rituximab, additional administration of prednisolone 20mg/day (less than 2 weeks) can be allowed as the rescue therapy. During remission maintenance phase, in the case of minor relapse, additional administration of prednisolone 20mg/day (less than 2 weeks) can be allowed as the rescue therapy. Minor relapse is defined as relapse with no major BVAS item.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Proportions of patients achieving remission26 weeks

Remission is defined as BVAS (Birmingham vasculitis activity score)=0 and less than 5mg/day of prednisolone.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Sustained remission without taking prednisolone at 104 weeks104 weeks

Remission is defined as BVAS (Birmingham vasculitis activity score)=0 and less than 5mg/day of prednisolone.

Survival, relapse and end-stage renal disease26 and 104 weeks

Assessed by Kaplan-Meier curves.

Accumulative dose of glucocorticoids26 and 104 weeks

Accumulative dose of glucocorticoids during the study period

Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS) version 326 and 104 weeks

BVAS is a scoring system for assessing the disease activity of vasculitis.

Short-Form 36 (SF-36)26 and 104 weeks

SF-36 is a scoring system for assessing patient QOL.

Proportions of the patients with new onset hypertension26 and 104 weeks

Hypertension requiring drug treatments

Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI)104 weeks

VDI is a scoring system for assessing irreversible disease damage due to vasculitis.

Serious adverse event (SAE)26 and 104 weeks

Event numbers and proportions of patients with one or more SAEs.

Proportions of the patients with new onset hyperlipidemia26 and 104 weeks

Hyperlipidemia requiring drug treatments

Proportion of the patients with new onset bone fracture, bone density104 weeks

Bone density is assessed at lumber spines.

Proportions of patients achieving remission without the rescue therapy26 weeks

Remission is defined as BVAS (Birmingham vasculitis activity score)=0 and less than 5mg/day of prednisolone.

Sustained remission without taking prednisolone at 104 weeks and the rescue therapy during the trial period104 weeks

Remission is defined as BVAS (Birmingham vasculitis activity score)=0 and less than 5mg/day of prednisolone.

Proportions of the patients with new onset diabetes mellitus26 and 104 weeks

Diabetes mellitus requiring drug treatments

Number of infections, proportions of the patients with infection26 and 104 weeks

Infections requiring drug treatments

Number of serious infections, proportions of the patients with serious infection26 and 104 weeks

Serious infections are serious events among infections requiring drug treatments.

Proportions of the patients with liver dysfunction26 and 104 weeks

Liver dysfunction \>= grade 3 liver dysfunction (CTCAE)

Proportions of the patients with new onset malignancies26 and 104 weeks

Malignancies diagnosed after the trial entry

Proportions of patients treated with the rescue therapy26 and 104 weeks

Details of the rescue therapy are written in the section of "Arms and Interventions".

Trial Locations

Locations (22)

Dokkyo Medical University

🇯🇵

Mibu, Tochigi, Japan

Juntendo Univeristy

🇯🇵

Bunkyoku, Tokyo, Japan

Fujita Health University Hospital

🇯🇵

Toyoake, Aichi, Japan

Asahi General Hospital

🇯🇵

Asahi, Chiba, Japan

Chiba Rosai Hospital

🇯🇵

Ichihara, Chiba, Japan

Kameda Medical Centre

🇯🇵

Kamogawa, Chiba, Japan

International University of Health and Welfare

🇯🇵

Narita, Chiba, Japan

Japanese Red Cross Narita Hospital

🇯🇵

Narita, Chiba, Japan

Gunma University

🇯🇵

Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

Kagawa University

🇯🇵

Miki, Kagawa, Japan

St.Marianna University School of Medicine

🇯🇵

Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

Tohoku Univerisity

🇯🇵

Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Saitama Medical University

🇯🇵

Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan

Teikyo University

🇯🇵

Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

Kyorin University

🇯🇵

Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan

Toho University

🇯🇵

Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Yamanashi University

🇯🇵

Chuo-shi, Yamanashi, Japan

Chiba Aoba Municipal Hospital

🇯🇵

Chiba, Japan

Chiba University

🇯🇵

Chiba, Japan

Nagasaki University

🇯🇵

Nagasaki, Japan

Okayama University

🇯🇵

Okayama, Japan

Kitano Hospital

🇯🇵

Osaka, Japan

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