Albireo Pharma has announced positive results from PEDFIC 1, a global Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of odevixibat and the largest study ever conducted in PFIC1 and PFIC2.
PEDFIC 1 met its two primary endpoints, demonstrating that odevixibat reduced serum bile acid responses (sBAs) (p=0.003) and improved pruritus assessments (p=0.004) with a single digit diarrhea rate. Odevixibat is a highly potent, non-systemic ileal bile acid transport inhibitor (IBATi), for the treatment of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) patients.
“The successful clinical application of IBAT inhibition is all about the ability to lower bile acids and reduce diarrhea rates. Odevixibat reduced bile acids in both PFIC1 and PFIC2 patients and demonstrated a clinically meaningful outcome in pruritus. This is exciting news for children suffering from PFIC who, if odevixibat is approved, may soon have an easy to take, once-daily drug for their life-threatening liver disease,” says Ron Cooper, President and Chief Executive Officer of Albireo. “These strong results from PEDFIC 1 increase our confidence in the ongoing BOLD pivotal trial in biliary atresia and the Alagille syndrome study planned for later this year.”
Results
In the primary analysis, the study met the U.S. regulatory primary endpoint with the proportion of positive pruritus assessments being 53.5% in the odevixibat arms compared to 28.7% in the placebo arm (p=0.004). As a secondary endpoint, 42.9% of patients in the odevixibat arms had a clinically meaningful improvement in the pruritus score, defined as a drop from baseline of 1.0 point or more on the 0-4 point scale, at week 24 compared to 10.5% in the placebo arm (p=0.018). The study also met the EU regulatory primary endpoint with 33.3% of subjects in the odevixibat arms experiencing either a 70% reduction in sBAs or reaching a level of 70 μmol/L compared to no patients in the placebo arm (p=0.003). As a secondary endpoint, mean reduction of bile acids was 114.3 µmol/L in the odevixibat arms compared to an increase of 13.1 µmol/L in the placebo arm (p=0.002).
Both doses of odevixibat were statistically significant for each of the endpoints. Odevixibat was well tolerated, with an overall adverse event incidence similar to placebo. There were no drug-related serious adverse events (SAEs) reported during the study. Diarrhea/frequent bowel movements were the most common treatment-related gastrointestinal adverse events which occurred in 9.5% of odevixibat treated patients vs. 5.0% of placebo patients. Full results from the Phase 3 clinical trial will be presented at a future scientific meeting.
Photo of Albireo President and CEO, Ron Cooper
