Among the multitude of steroid-toxicity metrics, which can you trust? It’s time to standardize steroid-sparing drug trial parameters.
The Steritas GTI provides a quantitative and systematic solution to assessing steroid-toxicity. It yields a precision outcome measure of efficacy and safety for clinical investigators to compare new drug protocols with conventional standards of care for steroid dependent patients.
The GTI data was recently analyzed in a retrospective single-center study of patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis to assess treatment burden. Investigators reported results that support the value of steroid-sparing alternatives:
The Figure shows the adverse events relating to each GTI domain over a 48-month period. Each discrete adverse event was scored once. This confirms the general decline in adverse events over time, as patients disease is brought under better control and glucocorticoids are tapered. GTI scores correspond well to widely-acknowledged glucocorticoid-related adverse events.
In the ADVOCATE clinical trial of avacopan the primary efficacy endpoint at 26 weeks was non-inferiority comparing the two groups for remission induction. Avacopan was indeed non-inferior to standard of care. The secondary endpoint of lower steroid-toxicity proved to be the key differentiator for avacopan. The Steritas GTI made that possible.
For each trial participant, patient data was entered into the GTI to generate the Cumulative Worsening Score (CWS), and the Aggregate Improvement Score (AIS), for each participant at study weeks 13 and 26. A lower score corresponds to lower toxicity for both indices.
The mean CWS and AIS for all trial participants are both statistically significantly lower for avacopan than for prednisone.