Introduction: For individuals with haemophilia A, prophylaxis with factor VIII (FVIII) is typically directed towards trough activity >1 IU/dL; however, some patients still experience spontaneous bleeding events (sBEs).
Aim: Aims were to evaluate relationships of endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) and FVIII:C with occurrence of clinical bleeding.
Methods: GENA-21 was a prospective, open-label, phase IIIb study investigating the safety and efficacy of Nuwiq® (human-cl rhFVIII) in previously treated adults with severe haemophilia A. The study included a 72-hour pharmacokinetic (PK) evaluation phase and a 6-month personalized prophylaxis phase in which treatment was guided by PK parameters. This subanalysis assessed FVIII:C by one-stage assay and ETP by thrombin generation assay in blood samples.
Results: Baseline mean ETP was lower in the 7 patients who experienced sBEs during personalized prophylaxis versus 25 who did not (n = 32 with data from PK phase and prophylaxis phase; P = .0002). During personalized prophylaxis (n = 49), only patients with lower median trough ETP experienced sBEs (8/49 patients; ROC AUC = 0.9421; P < .0001); there was no significant relationship for FVIII:C in predicting sBEs (ROC AUC = 0.5838; P = .4750). Directly following infusion of human-cl rhFVIII, ETP was lower in patients who experienced sBEs versus those who did not (P = .0002), whereas FVIII:C did not differ significantly between these groups.
Conclusions: In adults with severe haemophilia A and reduced thrombin generation, increased frequency of spontaneous bleeding was observed irrespective of trough FVIII levels. Thus, personalized prophylaxis should take into account variables other than FVIII:C. Large prospective trials are needed to verify ETP as a marker for spontaneous bleeding.
Keywords: bleeding; endogenous thrombin potential; factor VIII; haemophilia A; prophylaxis; thrombin generation.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.