Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market See Huge Growth for New Normal

Posted on April 29, 2022 by MaryO

I don’t know if there’s anything of interest here – or the cost – but possibly useful to someone.

Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market research report is the new statistical data source added by Research Cognizance.

“Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market is growing at a High CAGR during the forecast period 2022-2029. The increasing interest of the individuals in this industry is that the major reason for the expansion of this market”.

Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market research is an intelligence report with meticulous efforts undertaken to study the right and valuable information. The data which has been looked upon is done considering both, the existing top players and the upcoming competitors. Business strategies of the key players and the new entering market industries are studied in detail. Well explained SWOT analysis, revenue share, and contact information are shared in this report analysis.

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Top Key Players Profiled in this report are:

Novartis, Orphagen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Corcept Therapeutics

The key questions answered in this report:

  • What will be the Market Size and Growth Rate in the forecast year?
  • What are the Key Factors driving Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market?
  • What are the Risks and Challenges in front of the market?
  • Who are the Key Vendors in Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market?
  • What are the Trending Factors influencing the market shares?
  • What are the Key Outcomes of Porter’s five forces model?
  • Which are the Global Opportunities for Expanding the Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market?

Various factors are responsible for the market’s growth trajectory, which are studied at length in the report. In addition, the report lists down the restraints that are posing threat to the global Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment market. It also gauges the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat from new entrants and product substitute, and the degree of competition prevailing in the market. The influence of the latest government guidelines is also analyzed in detail in the report. It studies the Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment market’s trajectory between forecast periods.

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Regions Covered in the Global Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market Report 2022:
• The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt)
• North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada)
• South America (Brazil etc.)
• Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)
• Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)

The cost analysis of the Global Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market has been performed while keeping in view manufacturing expenses, labor cost, and raw materials and their market concentration rate, suppliers, and price trend. Other factors such as Supply chain, downstream buyers, and sourcing strategy have been assessed to provide a complete and in-depth view of the market. Buyers of the report will also be exposed to a study on market positioning with factors such as target client, brand strategy, and price strategy taken into consideration.

The report provides insights on the following pointers:

Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment market.

Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on the upcoming technologies, R&D activities, and product launches in the market.

Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of the market strategies, geographic and business segments of the leading players in the market.

Market Development: Comprehensive information about emerging markets. This report analyzes the market for various segments across geographies.

Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment market.

Table of Content
Global Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market Research Report
Chapter 1: Global Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Industry Overview
Chapter 2: Global Economic Impact on Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Industry
Chapter 3: Global Market Competition by Industry Producers
Chapter 4: Global Productions, Revenue (Value), according to regions
Chapter 5: Global Supplies (Production), Consumption, Export, Import, geographically
Chapter 6: Global Productions, Revenue (Value), Price Trend, Product Type
Chapter 7: Global Market Analysis, on the basis of Application
Chapter 8: Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market Pricing Analysis
Chapter 9: Market Chain, Sourcing Strategy, and Downstream Buyers
Chapter 10: Strategies and key policies by Distributors/Suppliers/Traders
Chapter 11: Key Marketing Strategy Analysis, by Market Vendors
Chapter 12: Market Effect Factors Analysis
Chapter 13: Global Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market Forecast

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Slow and Steady With Osilodrostat Best in Cushing’s Disease

Posted on May 28, 2021 by MaryO

Gradual dose escalation had fewer adverse events, same therapeutic benefit, as quicker increases

by Kristen Monaco, Staff Writer, MedPage Today May 27, 2021 A more gradual increase in oral osilodrostat (Isturisa) dosing was better tolerated among patients with Cushing’s disease, compared with those who had more accelerated increases, a researcher reported.

Looking at outcomes from two phase III trials assessing osilodrostat, only 27% of patients had hypocortisolism-related adverse events if dosing was gradually increased every 3 weeks, said Maria Fleseriu, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, in a presentation at the virtual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE).

On the other hand, 51% of patients experienced a hypocortisolism-related adverse event if osilodrostat dose was increased to once every 2 weeks.

Acting as a potent oral 11-beta-hydroxylase inhibitor, osilodrostat was first approved by the FDA in March 2020 for adults with Cushing’s disease who either cannot undergo pituitary gland surgery or have undergone the surgery but still have the disease. The drug is currently available in 1 mg, 5 mg, and 10 mg film-coated tablets.

The approval came based off of the positive findings from the complementary LINC3 and LINC4 trials.

The LINC3 trial included 137 adults with Cushing’s disease with a mean 24-hour urinary free cortisol concentration (mUFC) over 1.5 times the upper limit of normal (50 μg/24 hours), along with morning plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone above the lower limit of normal (9 pg/mL).

During the open-label, dose-escalation period, all the participants were given 2 mg of osilodrostat twice per day, 12 hours apart. Over this 12-week titration phase, dose escalations were allowed once every 2 weeks if there were no tolerability issues to achieve a maximum dose of 30 mg twice a day.

After this 12-week dose-escalation schedule, additional bumps up in dose were permitted every 4 weeks. The median daily osilodrostat dose was 7.1 mg.

The LINC4 trial included 73 patients with Cushing’s disease with an mUFC over 1.3 times the upper limit of normal. The 48 patients randomized to receive treatment were likewise started on 2 mg bid of osilodrostat. However, this trial had a more gradual dose-escalation schedule, as doses were increased only every 3 weeks to achieve a 20 mg bid dose.

After the 12-week dose-escalation phase, patients on a dose over 2 mg bid were restarted on 2 mg bid at week 12, where dose escalations were permitted once every 3 weeks thereafter to achieve a maximum 30 mg bid dose during this additional 36-week extension phase.

Patients in this trial achieved a median daily osilodrostat dose of 5.0 mg.

In both studies, patients’ median age was about 40 years, the majority of patients were female, and about 88% had undergone a previous pituitary surgery.

When comparing the adverse event profiles of both trials, Fleseriu and colleagues found that more than half of patients on the 2-week dose-escalation schedule experienced any grade of hypercortisolism-related adverse events. About 10.2% of these events were considered grade 3.

About 28% of these patients had adrenal insufficiency — the most common hypercortisolism-related adverse event reported. This was a catch-all term that include events like glucocorticoid deficiency, adrenocortical insufficiency, steroid withdrawal syndrome, and decreased cortisol, Fleseriu explained.

Conversely, only 27.4% of patients on a 3-week dose escalation schedule experienced a hypercortisolism-related adverse event, and only 2.7% of these were grade 3.

No grade 4 events occurred in either trial, and most events were considered mild or moderate in severity.

“These adverse events were not associated with any specific osilodrostat dose of mean UFC level,” Fleseriu said, adding that most of these events occurred during the initial dose-escalation periods.

About 60% and 58% of all hypocortisolism-related adverse events occurred during the dose titration period in the 2-week and 3-week dose-escalation schedules, respectively. These events were managed via dose reduction, a temporary interruption in medication, and/or a concomitant medication.

Very few patients in either trial permanently discontinued treatment due to these adverse events, Fleseriu noted.

“Despite differences in the frequency of dose escalation, the time to first mUFC normalization was similar in the LINC3 and LINC4 studies,” she said, adding that “gradual increases in osilodrostat dose from a starting dose of 2 mg bid can mitigate hypocortisolism-related adverse events without affecting mUFC control.”

“For patients with Cushing’s disease, osilodrostat should be initiated at the recommended starting dose with incremental dose increases, based on individual response and tolerability aimed at normalizing cortisol levels,” Fleseriu concluded.

  • Kristen Monaco is a staff writer, focusing on endocrinology, psychiatry, and dermatology news. Based out of the New York City office, she’s worked at the company for nearly five years.

Disclosures

The LINC3 and LINC4 trials were funded by Novartis.

Fleseriu reported relationships with Novartis, Recordati, and Strongbridge Biopharma.

Primary Source

American Association of Clinical Endocrinology

Source Reference: Fleseriu M, et al “Effect of dosing and titration of osilodrostat on efficacy and safety in patients with Cushing’s disease (CD): Results from two phase III trials (LINC3 and LINC4)” AACE 2021.

From https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/aace/92824?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2021-05-28&eun=g1406328d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily Headlines Top Cat HeC 2021-05-28&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_dual-gmail-definition

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Cushing’s Disease—Monthly Injection Is Good Alternative to Surgery

Posted on October 1, 2019 by MaryO

Written by Kathleen Doheny with Maria Fleseriu, MD, FACE, and Vivien Herman-Bonert, MD

Cushing’s disease, an uncommon but hard to treat endocrine disorder, occurs when a tumor on the pituitary gland, called an adenoma—that is almost always benign—leads to an overproduction of ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), which is responsible for stimulating the release of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone.

Until now, surgery to remove the non-cancerous but problematic tumor has been the only effective treatment. Still, many patients will require medication to help control their serum cortisol levels, and others cannot have surgery or would prefer to avoid it.

Finally, a drug proves effective as added on or alternative to surgery in managing Cushing’s disease. Photo; 123rf

New Drug Offers Alternative to Surgery for Cushing’s Disease

Now, there is good news about long-term positive results achieved with pasireotide (Signifor)—the first medication to demonstrate effectiveness in both normalizing serum cortisol levels and either shrinking or slowing growth of tumors over the long term.1,2  These findings appear in the journal, Clinical Endocrinology, showing that patients followed for 36 months as part of an ongoing study had improved patient outcomes for Cushing’s disease.2

“What we knew before this extension study was—the drug will work in approximately half of the patients with mild Cushing’s disease,” says study author Maria Fleseriu, MD, FACE, director of the Northwest Pituitary Center and professor of neurological surgery and medicine in the division of endocrinology, diabetes and clinical nutrition at the Oregon Health and Sciences University School of Medicine.

“Pasireotide also offers good clinical benefits,” says Dr. Fleseriu who is also the president of the Pituitary Society, “which includes improvements in blood pressure, other signs and symptoms of Cushing’s symptom], and quality of life.”2

What Symptoms Are Helped by Drug for Cushing’s Disease?  

Among the signs and symptoms of Cushing’s disease that are lessened with treatment are:3

  • Changes in physical appearance such as wide, purple stretch marks on the skin (eg, chest, armpits, abdomen, thighs)
  • Rapid and unexplained weight gain
  • A more full, rounder face
  • Protruding abdomen from fat deposits
  • Increased fat deposits around the neck area

The accumulation of adipose tissue raises the risk of heart disease, which adds to the urgency of effective treatment. In addition, many individuals who have Cushing’s disease also complain of quality of life issues such as fatigue, depression, mood and behavioral problems, as well as poor memory.2

As good as the results appear following the longer term use of pasireotide,2 Dr. Fleseriu admits that in any extension study in which patients are asked to continue on, there are some built-in limitations, which may influence the findings. For example, patients who agree to stay on do so because they are good responders, meaning they feel better, so they’re happy to stick with the study.

“Fortunately, for the patients who have responded to pasireotide initially, this is a drug that can be  continued as there are no new safety signals with longer use,” Dr. Fleseriu tells EndocrineWeb, “and when the response at the start is good, very few patients will lose control of their urinary free cortisol over time. That’s a frequent marker used to monitor patient’s status. For those patients with large tumors, almost half of them had a significant shrinkage, and all the others had a stable tumor size.”

What Are the Reasons to Consider Drug Treatment to Manage Cushing’s Symptoms

The extension study ”was important because we didn’t have any long-term data regarding patient response to this once-a-month treatment to manage Cushing’s disease,” she says.

While selective surgical removal of the tumor is the preferred treatment choice, the success rate in patients varies, and Cushing’s symptoms persist in up to 35% of patients after surgery. In addition, recurrent rates (ie, return of disease) range from 13% to 66% after individuals experience different durations remaining in remission.1

Therefore, the availability of an effective, long-lasting drug will change the course of therapy for many patients with Cushing’s disease going forward. Not only will pasireotide benefit patients who have persistent and recurrent disease after undergoing surgery, but also this medication will be beneficial for those who are not candidates for surgery or just wish to avoid having this procedure, he said.

Examining the Safety and Tolerability of Pasireotide  

This long-acting therapy, pasireotide, which is given by injection, was approved in the US after reviewing results of a 12-month Phase 3 trial.1  In the initial study, participants had a confirmed pituitary cause of the Cushing’s disease. After that, the researchers added the optional 12-month open-label, extension study, and now patients can continue on in a separate long-term safety study.

Those eligible for the 12-month extension had to have mean urinary free cortisol not exceeding the upper limit of normal (166.5 nanomoles per 24 hour) and/or be considered by the investigator to be getting substantial clinical benefit from treatment with long-action pasireotide, and to demonstrate tolerability of pasireotide during the core study.1

Of the 150 in the initial trial, 81 participants, or 54% of the patients, entered the extension study. Of those, 39 completed the next phase, and most also enrolled in another long-term safety study—these results not yet available).2

During the core study, 1 participants were randomly assigned to 10 or 30 mg of the drug every 28 days, with doses based on effectiveness and tolerability. When they entered the extension, patients were given the same dose they received at month.1,2

Study Outcomes Offer Advantages in Cushing’s Disease

Of those who received 36 months of treatment with pasireotide, nearly three in four (72.2%) had controlled levels of urinary free cortisol at this time point.2 Equally good news for this drug was that tumors either shrank or did not grow. Of those individuals who started the trial with a measurable tumor (adenoma) as well as those with an adenoma at the two year mark (35 people), 85.7% of them experienced a reduction of 20% or more or less than a 20% change in tumor volume. No  macroadenomas present at the start of the study showed a change of more than 20% at either month 24 or 36.2

Improvements in blood pressure, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference continued throughout the extension study.1  Those factors influence CVD risk, the leading cause of death in those with Cushing’s.4

As for adverse events, most of the study participants, 91.4%, did report one or more complaint during the extension study—most commonly, it was high blood sugar, which was reported by nearly 40% of participants.2. This is not surprising when you consider that most (81.5%) of the individuals participating in the extension trial entered with a diagnosis of diabetes or use of antidiabetic medication, and even more of them (88.9%) had diabetes at the last evaluation.1  

This complication indicates the need for people with Cushing’s disease to check their blood glucose, as appropriate.

Do You Have Cushing’s Disese [sic]? Here’s What You Need to Know 

Women typically develop Cushing’s disease more often than men.

What else should you be aware of if you and your doctor decide this medication will help you? Monitoring is crucial, says Dr. Fleseriu, as you will need to have your cortisol levels checked, and you should be on alert for any diabetes signals, which will require close monitoring and regular follow-up for disease management.

Another understanding gained from the results of this drug study: “This medication works on the tumor level,” she says. “If the patient has a macroadenoma (large tumor), this would be the preferred treatment.” However, it should be used with caution in those with diabetes given the increased risk of experiencing high blood sugar.

The researchers conclude that “the long-term safety profile of pasireotide was very favorable and consistent with that reported during the first 12 months of treatment. These data support the use of long-acting pasireotide as an effective long-term treatment option for some patients with Cushing’s Disease.”1

Understanding Benefits of New Drug to Treat Cushing’s Diseease [sic]

Vivien S. Herman-Bonert, MD, an endocrinologist and clinical director of the Pituitary Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, agreed to discuss the study findings, after agreeing to review the research for EndocrineWeb.

As to who might benefit most from monthly pasireotide injections? Dr. Herman-Bonert says, “any patient with Cushing’s disease that requires long-term medical therapy, which includes patients with persistent or recurrent disease after surgery.” Certainly, anyone who has had poor response to any other medical therapies for Cushing’s disease either because they didn’t work well enough or because the side effects were too much, will likely benefit a well, she adds.

Among the pluses that came out of the study, she says, is that nearly half of the patients had controlled average urinary free cortisol levels after two full years, and 72% of the participants who continued on with the drug for 36 months were able to remain in good urinary cortisol control .1

As the authors stated, tumor shrinkage was another clear benefit of taking long-term pasireotide. That makes the drug a potentially good choice for those even with large tumors or with progressive tumor growth, she says. It’s always good for anyone with Cushing’s disease to have an alterative [sic] to surgery, or a back-up option when surgery isn’t quite enough, says Dr. Herman-Bonert.

The best news for patients is that quality of life scores improved,1 she adds.

Dr Herman-Bonert did add a note of caution: Although the treatment in this study is described as ”long-term, patients will need to be on this for far longer than 2 to 3 years,” she says. So, the data reported in this study may or may not persist, and we don’t yet know what the impact will be 10 or 25 years out.

Also, the issue of hyperglycemia-related adverse events raises a concern, given the vast majority (81%) of patients who have both Cushing’s disease and diabetes. Most of those taking this drug had a dual diagnosis—having diabetes, a history of diabetes, or taking antidiabetic medicine.

If you are under care for diabetes and you require treatment for Cushing’s disease, you must be ver mindful that taking pasireotide will likely lead to high blood sugar spikes, so you should plan to address this with your healthcare provider.

 

Dr. Fleseriu reports research support paid to Oregon Health & Science University from Novartis and other 0companies and consultancy fees from Novartis and Strongbridge Biopharma. Dr. Herman-Bonert has no relevant disclosures.

The study was underwritten by Novartis Pharma AG, the drug maker. 

From https://www.endocrineweb.com/news/pituitary-disorders/62449-cushings-disease-monthly-injection-good-alternative-surgery

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Osilodrostat Continues to Show Promise for Cushing’s Disease

Posted on April 1, 2019 by MaryO

NEW ORLEANS — The investigational drug osilodrostat (Novartis) continues to show promise for treating Cushing’s disease, now with new phase 3 trial data.

The data from the phase 3, multicenter, double-blind randomized withdrawal study (LINC-3) of osilodrostat in 137 patients with Cushing’s disease were presented here at ENDO 2019: The Endocrine Society Annual Meeting by Beverly M.K. Biller, MD, of the Neuroendocrine & Pituitary Tumor Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

“Osilodrostat was effective and shows promise for the treatment of patients with Cushing’s disease,” Biller said.

Osilodrostat is an oral 11β-hydroxylase inhibitor, the enzyme that catalyzes the last step of cortisol biosynthesis in the adrenal cortex. Its mechanism of action is similar to that of the older Cushing’s drug metyrapone, but osilodrostat has a longer plasma half-life and is more potent against 11β-hydroxylase.

Significantly more patients randomized to osilodrostat maintained a mean urinary free cortisol (mUFC) response versus placebo at 34 weeks following a 24-week open-label period plus 8-week randomized phase, with rapid and sustained mUFC reduction in most patients.

Patients also experienced improvements in clinical signs of hypercortisolism and quality of life. The drug was generally well-tolerated and had no unexpected side effects.

Asked to comment, session comoderator Julia Kharlip, MD, associate medical director of the Pituitary Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, told Medscape Medical News, “This drug is incredibly exciting because over 80% of people were controlled fairly rapidly. People could get symptom relief but also a reliable response. You don’t have to wonder when you’re treating a severely affected patient if it’s going to work. It’s likely going to work.”

However, Kharlip cautioned that it remains to be seen whether osilodrostat continues to work long-term, given that the older drug metyrapone — which must be given four times a day versus twice daily for osilodrostat — is known to become ineffective over time because the pituitary tumor eventually overrides the enzyme blockade.

“Based on how osilodrostat is so much more effective at smaller doses, there’s more hope that it will be effective long term…If the effectiveness and safety profile that we’re observing now continues to show the same performance years in a row, then we’ve got our drug.”

Osilodrostat Potentially Addresses an Unmet Medical Need

Cushing’s disease is a rare disorder of chronic hypercortisolism with significant burden, increased mortality, and decreased quality of life. Pituitary surgery is the recommended first-line treatment for most patients, but not all patients remit with surgery and some require additional treatment.

Pasireotide (Signifor, Novartis), an orphan drug approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of Cushing’s disease in patients who fail or are ineligible for surgical therapy, is also only effective in a minority of patients.

“There hasn’t been a medicine effective for long-term treatment, so a lot of patients end up getting bilateral adrenalectomy, thereby exchanging one chronic medical disease for another,” Kharlip explained.

Biller commented during the question-and-answer period, “I think because not all patients are placed in remission with surgery initially and because other patients subsequently recur — a problem that is more common than we used to believe — we do need medical therapies.”

She continued, “I think it’s important to have a large choice of medical therapies that work in different places in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

“Even though surgery is the right initial therapy for everyone, I think in terms of subsequent medical therapy we have to tailor that to the individual circumstances of the patient in terms of the goals of treatment, and perhaps what other medicines they’re on, the degree of cortisol excess [and other factors].”

Highly Significant Normalization in Mean UFC Versus Placebo

In a prior 22-week phase 2 study (LINC-2), osilodrostat normalized mUFC in most patients. Results of the extension phase were reported by Medscape Medical News 2 years ago.

The current phase 3 study, LINC-3, was conducted on the basis of that proof-of-concept study, Biller said.

The trial was conducted in 19 countries across four continents in patients with persistent or recurrent Cushing’s disease screened for mUFC > 1.5 times the upper limit of normal and other entry criteria. In total, 137 patients were enrolled and randomized.

Participants were a median age of 40 years, 77% were female, and 88% had undergone prior pituitary surgery. Nearly all (96%) had received at least one previous treatment for Cushing’s.

At baseline, patients’ mean mUFC (364 µg/24 hours) was 7.3 times the upper limit of normal, which is “quite significant hypercortisolemia,” Biller noted.

All patients initially received osilodrostat, with a rapid dose uptitration every 2 weeks from 2 to 30 mg orally twice daily until they achieved a normal UFC.

They continued on open-label medication until week 24, when urine samples were collected. Patients who had an mUFC less than the upper limit of normal and had not had a dose increase in the prior 12 weeks were eligible for the double-blind phase. Those who were ineligible continued taking open-label drug.

The 70 eligible patients were randomized to continue taking osilodrostat (n = 36) or were switched to placebo (n = 34) for another 8 weeks. After that, the patients taking placebo were switched back to osilodrostat until week 48. A total of 113 patients completed the 48 weeks.

The primary efficacy endpoint was mUFC at 34 weeks (the end of the 8-week randomized phase).

For those randomized to continue on the drug, mUFC remained in the normal range in 86.1% of patients versus just 29.4% of those who had been switched to placebo for the 8 weeks. The difference was highly significant (odds ratio, 13.7; P < .001), Biller reported.

A key secondary endpoint, proportion of patients with an mUFC at or below the ULN at 24 weeks without up-titration after week 12, was achieved in 53%.

The mean dose at 48 weeks was 11.0 mg/day, “a fairly low dose,” she noted.

Clinical features were also improved at week 48, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure (percentage change –6.8 and –6.6, respectively), weight (–4.6), waist circumference (–4.2), fasting plasma glucose (–7.1), and HbA1c (–5.4).

Scores on the Cushing Quality of Life scale improved by 52.4 points, and Beck Depression Inventory scores dropped by 31.8 points.

Most Adverse Events Temporary, Manageable

The most commonly reported adverse events were nausea (41.6%), headache (33.6%), fatigue (28.5%), and adrenal insufficiency (27.7%), and 10.9% of patients overall discontinued because of an adverse event.

Adverse events related to hypocortisolism occurred in 51.1% of patients overall, with 10.2% being grade 3 or 4.  However, most of these were single episodes of mild-to-moderate intensity and mainly occurred during the initial 12-week titration period. Most patients responded to dose reduction or glucocorticoid supplementation.

Adverse events related to accumulation of adrenal hormone precursors occurred in 42.3% of patients overall, with the most common being hypokalemia (13.1%) and hypertension (12.4%).

No male patients had signs or symptoms related to increased androgens or estrogens. However, 12 female patients experienced hirsutism, most of those patients also had acne, and one had hypertrichosis. None discontinued because of those symptoms.

Kharlip commented, “What’s really inspiring was that even though half of the patients had symptoms related to adrenal insufficiency, it sounded as if they were quickly resolved with treatment and none discontinued because of it.”

“And it may have been related to study design where the medication was titrated very rapidly. There is probably a way to do this more gently and get the good results without the side effects.”

Kharlip also praised the international consortium that devised the protocol and collaborated in the research effort.

“It’s incredibly exciting and gratifying to see the world come together to get these data. It’s such a rare disease. To be able to have something like that in the field is a dream, to have a working consortium. The protocol was effective in demonstrating efficacy. It’s just a win on so many levels for a disease that currently doesn’t have a good therapy…I struggle with these patients all the time so I’m thrilled that there is hope.”

An ongoing confirmatory phase 3 study, LINC-4, is evaluating patients up to 48 weeks.

Biller is a consultant for and has received grants from Novartis and Strongbridge. Kharlip has  reported no relevant financial relationships.

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From https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/910864#vp_1

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Long-acting Signifor Has Similar Safety Profiles as Twice-daily Treatment in Cushing’s Patients, Trial Showed

Posted on November 11, 2017 by MaryO

A long-acting, once-a-month treatment of Signifor (pasireotide) normalized cortisol levels in 40% of patients with Cushing’s disease whose disease had recurred after surgery, or who were not candidates for surgery, according to new data from a Phase 3 trial.

The safety profiles of the once-monthly regimen proved to be similar to standard twice-daily Signifor treatments, researchers found.

The study, “Efficacy and safety of once-monthly pasireotide in Cushing’s disease: a 12 month clinical trial,” was published in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Novartis‘ Signifor in its twice-daily injection formulation has already been approved for treating Cushing’s in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The 12-month, Phase 3 trial (NCT01374906) was conducted at 57 sites in 19 countries. The study included 150 patients with Cushing’s whose cortisol levels had risen or not dropped at all after surgery, or who were unable to undergo surgery.

Between Dec. 28, 2011, and Dec. 9, 2014, participants were randomized to receive either 10 mg or 30 mg of Signifor every four weeks, via an injection to the muscle. If, after four months of therapy, cortisol urinary levels (mUFC) were 50% greater than the upper normal limit, the dose could be increased from 10 mg to 30 mg, or from 30 mg to 40 mg. It could also be increased after seven, nine, or 12 months if the mUFC concentration was greater than normal.

The goal was to normalize average concentrations of free cortisol in the urine to less than or equal to the upper normal limit at month seven. It was met by 31 of the 74 patients in the 10 mg group (41.9%) and 31 of the 76 patients in the 30 mg group (40.8%).

The most common adverse events were hyperglycemia (high concentration of blood sugar), diarrhea, cholelithiasis (gall stones), diabetes, and nausea.

The researchers consider this treatment to be a good option for patients whose disease has returned after surgery, or who cannot undergo surgery. The long-lasting treatment schedule of one injection per month is more convenient for patients than the twice-daily subcutaneous injection, making it more likely that they would not discontinue treatment.

“Surgical resection of the causative pituitary adenoma is the first-line treatment of choice for most patients with Cushing’s disease, which leads to remission in greater than 75% of patients if done by an expert pituitary surgeon,” wrote Dr. Andre Lacroix, MD, a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Montreal teaching hospital, and colleagues.

“However, surgery is not always successful, and disease recurrence can occur several years after initial remission, while some patients refuse or are not candidates for surgery. As a result, many patients require additional treatment options.”

“Long-acting pasireotide normalized mUFC concentration in about 40% of patients with Cushing’s disease at month 7 and had a similar safety profile to that of twice-daily subcutaneous pasireotide,” the team wrote in the study.

“Long-acting pasireotide is an efficacious treatment option for some patients with Cushing’s disease who have persistent or recurrent disease after initial surgery or are not surgical candidates, and provides a convenient monthly administration schedule,” researchers concluded.

From https://cushingsdiseasenews.com/2017/10/31/long-acting-signifor-for-cushings-disease-has-similar-efficacy-and-safety-as-twice-daily-treatment/

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