Tafamidis Treatment for Patients with Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy.

N Engl J Med

From the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (M.S.M.) and Pfizer (J.H.S., A.I.B., P.H., J.S., M.B.S.), New York; Syneos Health, Raleigh, NC (B.G.); University College London and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London (P.M.E.); the Amyloidosis Center, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Policlinico San Matteo, and the University of Pavia, Pavia (G.M.), and the Department of Experimental, Diagnostic, and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Bologna (C.R.) - both in Italy; the Amyloidosis Center (CEPARM), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro (M.W-C.); the Amyloidosis Center, Medical University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany (A.V.K.); the Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN (M.G.); Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA (R.W.); the French Referral Center for Cardiac Amyloidosis, Amyloidosis Mondor Network, GRC Amyloid Research Institute and Department of Cardiology, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, CHU Henri Mondor, and INSERM Unité 955, Clinical Investigation Center 006, and DHU ATVB, Creteil, France (T.D.); Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia (B.M.D.); the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago (S.J.S.); Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland (M.H.); the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston (D.P.J.); and Pfizer, Groton, CT (T.A.P., S.R., M.S.).

Published: September 2018

Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy is a heart condition caused by abnormal proteins, and tafamidis helps stabilize these proteins to prevent disease progression.
In a phase 3 clinical trial with 441 patients, those taking tafamidis showed significantly lower death rates and fewer hospitalizations due to cardiovascular issues compared to placebo.
Tafamidis also improved physical health and quality of life measurements, indicating it is an effective treatment for this condition.

Background: Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy is caused by the deposition of transthyretin amyloid fibrils in the myocardium. The deposition occurs when wild-type or variant transthyretin becomes unstable and misfolds. Tafamidis binds to transthyretin, preventing tetramer dissociation and amyloidogenesis.

Methods: In a multicenter, international, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned 441 patients with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy in a 2:1:2 ratio to receive 80 mg of tafamidis, 20 mg of tafamidis, or placebo for 30 months. In the primary analysis, we hierarchically assessed all-cause mortality, followed by frequency of cardiovascular-related hospitalizations according to the Finkelstein-Schoenfeld method. Key secondary end points were the change from baseline to month 30 for the 6-minute walk test and the score on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-Overall Summary (KCCQ-OS), in which higher scores indicate better health status.

Results: In the primary analysis, all-cause mortality and rates of cardiovascular-related hospitalizations were lower among the 264 patients who received tafamidis than among the 177 patients who received placebo (P<0.001). Tafamidis was associated with lower all-cause mortality than placebo (78 of 264 [29.5%] vs. 76 of 177 [42.9%]; hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51 to 0.96) and a lower rate of cardiovascular-related hospitalizations, with a relative risk ratio of 0.68 (0.48 per year vs. 0.70 per year; 95% CI, 0.56 to 0.81). At month 30, tafamidis was also associated with a lower rate of decline in distance for the 6-minute walk test (P<0.001) and a lower rate of decline in KCCQ-OS score (P<0.001). The incidence and types of adverse events were similar in the two groups.

Conclusions: In patients with transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, tafamidis was associated with reductions in all-cause mortality and cardiovascular-related hospitalizations and reduced the decline in functional capacity and quality of life as compared with placebo. (Funded by Pfizer; ATTR-ACT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01994889 .).

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1805689	DOI Listing

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