American Society of Nephrology, Nov 2-5

The annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology (Kidney Week) was held this year from Nov. 2 to 5 in Philadelphia and attracted participants from around the world, including nephrology specialists, researchers, scientists, and other health care professionals. The conference featured presentations focusing on the latest advances in the management of patients with kidney diseases and related disorders.

In one study, Amit Garg, M.D., of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues found that the rate of completed steps toward receiving a kidney transplant does not significantly differ between a multicomponent intervention versus usual care.

A pragmatic cluster-randomized trial was conducted to determine if chronic kidney disease (CKD) programwide use of a multicomponent intervention was superior to usual care in helping eligible patients complete four key steps toward receiving a kidney transplant. This 4.2-year trial included 20,375 patients with advanced CKD cared for by more than 3,600 health care staff in Ontario”s 26 CKD programs. The trial was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to staffing challenges and shifting priorities.

“Despite evidence of intervention uptake, the rate of completed steps toward receiving a kidney transplant did not significantly differ between the multicomponent intervention versus usual care groups,” Garg said. “Acknowledging the pandemic complicated intervention delivery, the team failed to show this intervention increased access to kidney transplantation and living kidney donation.”

The study was funded by Astellas Canada.

Abstract No. FR-OR114

In another study, Michelle Rheault, M.D., of the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, and colleagues found a clinically meaningful reduction in proteinuria in patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) treated with sparsentan.

As part of the DUPLEX phase 3 study, the authors randomly assigned 371 patients (children and adults) with FSGS to receive sparsentan, a novel endothelin and angiotensin receptor antagonist, or irbesartan, an active control, for two years. The researchers found that patients treated with sparsentan were 55 percent more likely to achieve partial remission at 36 weeks compared with patients taking irbesartan. Treatment with sparsentan lead to a significant and durable reduction in proteinuria, with sparsentan-treated patients achieving a 50 percent reduction from baseline compared with a 32 percent reduction with irbesartan. There were also more patients who achieved complete remission on sparsentan (18.5 percent compared with 7.5 percent with irbesartan). Partial and complete remission have been associated with better long-term kidney function. Sparsentan was well tolerated, with a safety profile similar to that of irbesartan.