Breakthrough Therapy for CIDP Treatment

Kristina Allikmets, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President, Head of R&D for the Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit at Takeda, discusses a breakthrough therapy for the treatment of CIDP.

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a rare neurological disorder that causes progressive weakness and impaired sensory function in the legs and arms. It is thought to be caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking and damaging the myelin sheath of the peripheral nerves. Symptoms often include:

- Tingling or numbness (first in the toes and fingers)
- Weakness of the arms and legs
- Loss of deep tendon reflexes
- Fatigue
- Abnormal sensations
- Pain
- Difficulty swallowing
- Double vision

Current management involves the use of corticosteroids and immunoglobulin infusions. Subcutaneous versions of the immunoglobulin therapies have been an important development for patients with CIDP. These options give patients better opportunity and quality of life in terms of managing treatment.

Hyqvia, immune globulin infusion10 percent with recombinant human hyaluronidase, is the first and only subcutaneous immunoglobulin for adults with CIDP. The therapy targets the dispersion and absorption of large immunoglobulin levels between skin and muscle. The therapy has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of Hyqvia was tested in the phase 3 ADVANCE-CIDP 3 clinical trial. Average infusion duration was 135.5 minutes and was generally well tolerated with no new safety signals. Mild to moderate adverse events were observed in 89.4 percent of patients, including headache, infusion site erythema, pyrexia, nausea, erythema, infusion site pruritis, fatigue, and infusion site pain. Serious adverse events occurred in just three patients. Hyqvia also illustrated maintenance of disease control.

Chapters:
CIDP Overview 00:00
Current Management 1:15
Clinical Trials 2:31
Common Symptoms 9:21
What Physicians Should Know 11:26