Spontaneous Bleeding and Poor Bleeding Response with Extended Half-Life Factor IX Products: A Survey of Select US and Canadian Hemophilia Treatment Centers

Background: Factor IX (FIX) has distinct pharmacokinetic properties compared to factor VIII including significant distribution to the extravascular space. Extravascular distribution and binding to type IV collagen is important in hemostasis but not readily measureable in clinical practice for patients with hemophilia B receiving factor products. We previously reported data regarding use of EHL-FIX products in a cohort of patients who demonstrated issues with spontaneous bleeding and poorly controlled bleeding events; we now report data from an expanded cohort including performance of all EHL-FIX products available in US and Canada.

Aims: To characterize the use and performance of EHL-FIX in clinical practice at six hemophilia treatment centers (HTCs).

Methods: An electronic survey regarding center specific use of EHL-FIX amongst patients with severe hemophilia B (HB) was sent in summer 2019, including 4 previously surveyed centers and 2 additional centers. Providers were asked if patients utilizing EHL-FIX for prophylaxis had experienced 1) spontaneous/minimally traumatic bleeding events at factor levels >10% or 2) poorly controlled bleeding events requiring more frequent/higher doses of EHL-FIX than anticipated in addition to patterns of EHL-FIX product switching.

Results: Surveyed HTCs cared for 90 patients with HB including 67 (74%) who utilized EHL-FIX, including 26 (39%) recombinant factor IX (FIX) albumin fusion protein (rFIX-FP), 37 (55%) recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein (rFIXFc), and 4 (6%) received glycopegylated recombinant FIX (rFIX-GP). All patients had severe hemophilia B with the exception of one smaller center also contributing data regarding moderate HB patients on prophylaxis. All centers reported having patients with unexpected spontaneous/minimally traumatic bleeding and poorly controlled bleeding which did not seem to be dependent on age (median age 14.5 years, range 1.4-44). This occurred in 18 patients on prophylaxis, including 16 of 26 (62%) patients using rFIX-FP, and 2 of 4 (50%) of patients using rFIX-GP.

Conclusions: Although plasma FIX activity levels have driven prophylaxis and bleed management decisions, clinical experience suggests novel properties of EHL-FIX may impact hemostasis. Although achieving seemingly adequate FIX plasma troughs (>10%), limited clinical experience suggests patients with SHB may have a differential response to EHL-FIX, noted in our cohort with FIX-FP and rFIX-GP.

Successful bleed prevention or control in SHB may be predicted by the distribution of FIX in circulation and extravascular space, and the presence of FIX in tissues at time of injury. These data demonstrate the importance of real-world monitoring of efficacy of new FIX products and suggest the need for more robust mechanisms to understand the hemostatic performance of products.

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