Sickle Cell Pain Delayed with Crizanlizumab

A PPM Brief

A Novartis-based post hoc analysis reported that crizanlizumab (5.0 mg/kg) lengthened the time for which a patient with sickle cell disease needed first treatment for related pain. The subgroup analysis, aimed to further assess the efficacy of crizanlizumab treatment, was based on a 52-week Phase II SUSTAIN study; findings were presented at the 59^th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.  

The SUSTAIN study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase II look at sickle cell disease patients aged 16–65 (HbSS, HbSC, HbSβ⁰–thalassemia, HbSβ⁺–thalassemia, or other genotype); subjects had experienced 2 to 10 sickle cell pain crisis events in the prior 12 months.

Researchers reported that crizanlizumab dosage significantly delayed the time to first on-treatment sickle cell pain crisis in adults with the disease compared with placebo in most of the subpopulations investigated, including those with the HbSS genotype, according to the review. The authors further concluded that P-selectin inhibition provided additional benefit compared with hydroxyurea alone.