NEW YORK– Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced detailed results from two pivotal studies that make up the ELEVATE UC Phase 3 registrational program evaluating etrasimod, a once-daily, oral, selective sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator for the treatment of moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis (UC). These data were presented as a late-breaker presentation (abstract number 968a) at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2022.
Both Phase 3, multi-center, randomized, placebo-controlled trials achieved all primary and key secondary endpoints, with etrasimod demonstrating a safety profile consistent with previous studies. In the 52-week ELEVATE UC 52 study, clinical remission was 27.0% for patients receiving etrasimod compared to 7.4% for patients receiving placebo at week 12 (19.8% differential, P=˂.001) and was 32.1% compared to 6.7% at week 52 (25.4% differential, P=˂.001). In the 12-week ELEVATE UC 12 study, clinical remission was achieved among 24.8% of patients receiving etrasimod compared to 15.2% of patients receiving placebo (9.7% differential, P=.0264).
UC is a chronic and often debilitating inflammatory bowel disease1 that affects an estimated 3.8 million people in North America and Europe.2 Symptoms of UC can include chronic diarrhea with blood and mucus, abdominal pain and urgency.3,4 UC can have a significant effect on work, family and social activities.4
“Etrasimod could offer a differentiated clinical profile for people living with moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis considering the clear benefit it has shown over 52 weeks in a treat-through trial design, its mechanism of action, and its unique pharmacologic properties,” said Michael Corbo, Chief Development Officer, Inflammation & Immunology, Pfizer Global Product Development. “Patients often need multiple options to help manage their disease and there is a significant need for new therapies. In the ELEVATE clinical program, etrasimod has shown an encouraging balance of efficacy and safety that we believe could have a meaningful impact for patients and physicians, if approved.”
The 52-week ELEVATE UC 52 trial utilized a treat-through design which closely mimics real-world clinical practice. Statistically significant improvements were attained in all key secondary endpoints in ELEVATE UC 52. These included endoscopic improvement, symptomatic remission, and mucosal healing at weeks 12 and 52, and corticosteroid-free remission and sustained clinical remission at week 52. All key secondary endpoints were also met at week 12 in ELEVATE UC 12. These included endoscopic improvement, symptomatic remission, and mucosal healing.
Treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs), including serious AEs, were similar between treatment groups in both trials. The most common treatment-emergent AEs in 3% or more of etrasimod-treated patients and greater than placebo up to week 52 in either trial were headache, worsening of UC, COVID-19 infection, dizziness, pyrexia, arthralgia, abdominal pain and nausea. There were no reports of bradycardia or atrioventricular block as serious AEs.
