Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVNT) today announced that new data presented in an oral session at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2012 congress showed that patients with refractory chronic gout (RCG) who also suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD) responded to treatment with KRYSTEXXA® (pegloticase) regardless of baseline CKD stage. CKD stage is assigned based upon level of kidney function as measured by glomerular filtration rate (GFR), with higher stages having lower GFR levels. Six additional abstracts, including a study measuring the impact of gout pain on quality of life in Western Europe, were accepted for presentation or publication at EULAR, June 6-9, 2012.
Uric acid, which is high in patients with gout, is processed and excreted primarily by the kidney. Impairment of kidney function can alter the uric acid lowering effect of conventional gout treatments and decrease the threshold for a patient to experience treatment-related toxicity. Some treatments for gout require a dose reduction to avoid toxicity, yet elevated uric acid has been associated with worsening kidney function.
"There are currently limited treatment options available for gout patients with CKD so these data are encouraging because they showed that KRYSTEXXA is effective regardless of CKD stage, or severity of disease, and treatment with KRYSTEXXA does not impact estimated GFR levels, an indicator of kidney function," said Robert A. Yood, M.D., Principal Investigator, Chief of Rheumatology at Reliant Medical Group, and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.