EXTON, Pa., Oct. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Spherix Global Insights, a leading market intelligence firm specializing in nephrology-based research and insights, announced this month the release of Market Dynamix™: IgA Nephropathy (EU), their first annual EU5 research on IgA nephropathy (IgAN). This was published in conjunction with a parallel US-based IgAN report, and publications focusing on focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), Alport syndrome, and membranous nephropathy.
Spherix’s research incorporated feedback from 246 nephrologists across the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Overall, survey respondents across the EU5 rate glomerular diseases as highly challenging to manage and consider them as having a very high unmet need for new treatment options, with IgAN falling towards the middle.
The lack of effective treatment options for IgAN is one of nephrologists’ greatest challenges with the disease, followed by the difficulty in determining which patients to treat aggressively. In fact, EU5 nephrologists consider less than two-thirds of their IgAN patients as “optimally managed” – with some of the lowest rates in Spain and the UK.
Across the EU5, nephrologists identify approximately one-quarter of their IgAN patients as having nephrotic syndrome, with those physicians in the UK on the lower edge and those in Italy notably higher. One-in-five patients overall are classified as having “severe” disease, and one-in-seven are considered to be progressing rapidly, again with regional differences highlighting various opinions and patient types. All of this data is comparable to that found in Spherix’s Market Dynamix™: IgA Nephropathy (US) service, leveraging survey data from 100 US practicing physicians.
Kidney biopsy rates and approaches to treating patients with steroids – often the only option for progressing disease – also vary considerably across the EU5 regions and the US. While the majority of nephrologists in the EU5 agree that all non-dialysis patients with suspected glomerular disease should undergo a kidney biopsy, nephrologists in some regions are far more reserved, while others are more likely to order a biopsy immediately upon suspecting glomerular disease.
Treatment goals vary across countries, with the majority of nephrologists in the UK and Germany aiming towards stabilizing eGFR and those in Italy aiming to keep proteinuria below 1 gram. In France and Spain, doctors increasingly target proteinuria below 500mg for IgAN patients. While most nephrologists agree that steroid minimization is key in treating IgAN patients, those in certain countries are more likely to treat earlier and more aggressively with steroids than others. The biggest opportunity highlighted throughout may be the potential utilization of SGLT2 inhibitors on this glomerular disease population.
Looking towards the future, nephrologists most seek a new IgAN treatment that can slow chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression overall and significantly reduce proteinuria. Products evaluated in this research (and the US-based research) for familiarity and potential patient candidacy include: atacicept (Vera Therapeutics), atrasentan (Chinook), cemdisiran (Alnylam), IONIS-FB-L (IONIS), iptacopan (Novartis), narsoplimab (Omeros), Nefecon (Calliditas), sparsentan (Travere), and VIS649 (Otsuka and Visterra).
Nephrologists in the EU5, similarly to those in the US, have the greatest familiarity with Nefecon, sparsentan, and atrasentan – with familiarity peaking for certain products in different countries. When asked which IgAN pipeline product they would most like to see approved, again nephrologists’ opinions vary by geography, selecting different products as having the greatest potential.
Spherix will also be releasing the second annual US-based IgA nephropathy patient chart audit included in their RealWorld Dynamix™: IgA Nephropathy (US) service in Q1 2022, including insights from more than 400 IgAN patient charts. This data, in combination with data released in Q1 2021 of more than 450 IgAN patients, will provide pharmaceutical companies launching into this space unique perspectives on specific patient types, lab values (proteinuria and eGFR metrics, among others), treatment histories, and future courses of care).
Market Dynamix™ is an independent service providing analysis of markets anticipated to experience a paradigm shift within the next three to five years, highlighting market size, current treatment approaches, unmet needs, and expert opinions on the likely disruption introduced by pipeline agents.
RealWorld Dynamix™ is an independent, data-driven service unveiling real patient management patterns through rigorous analysis of large-scale patient chart audits. Insights reveal the “why” behind treatment decisions, include year over year trending to quantify key aspects of market evolution, and integrate specialists’ attitudinal & demographic data to highlight differences between stated and actual treatment patterns.
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About Spherix Global Insights
Spherix Global Insights is a hyper-focused market intelligence firm that leverages our own independent data and expertise to provide strategic guidance, so biopharma stakeholders make decisions with confidence. We specialize in select immunology, nephrology, and neurology markets.
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