Shield Therapeutics PLC (LON:STX, OTCQX:SHIEF), developer of a breakthrough new product for anaemia, noted a recent publication in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases of the positive long-term effectiveness of ferric maltol compared to intravenous iron in treating patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
The pharmaceutical company’s focus is on addressing iron deficiency with its lead product Feraccru/Accrufer (ferric maltol). Treatment with standard oral irons is limited by poor absorption and gastrointestinal toxicity, whereas ferric maltol is an oral iron designed for improved absorption and tolerability.
In a phase 3b trial, adults with non-severely active inflammatory bowel disease and iron-deficiency anaemia were given either 30g of oral ferric maltol twice daily or intravenous iron over 52 weeks.
The report of this first comparative trial, reflecting real-world conditions in patients with mild to moderate inflammatory bowel disease and mild to severe iron-deficiency anaemia, concluded that both oral ferric maltol and standard intravenous iron treatment achieved clinically meaningful increases in haemoglobin over 12 weeks of treatment, although ferric maltol did not meet the prespecified noninferiority margin versus intravenous iron because of the slower time required to achieve an increase in haemoglobin using ferric maltol rather than intravenous iron.
Over the longer term, ferric maltol showed comparable efficacy in maintaining haemoglobin improvements and increasing ferritin up to week 52, consistent with intravenous iron. The safety profile of each treatment was consistent with previous studies.
“Thus, ferric maltol offers a simple, well tolerated and cost-effective long-term treatment solution of chronic IDA [iron-deficiency anaemia] in patients with IBD [inflammatory bowel disease]," concluded lead author, Dr Stephanie Howaldt.
An estimated 36% to 90% of patients with inflammatory bowel disease have iron deficiency, the journal noted.