Vadadustat for Anemia in Patients with Dialysis-Dependent or Non-Dialysis-Dependent Chronic Kidney Disease

To the Editor: The trials by Chertow et al. and Eckardt et al. (April 29 issue)(1,2) provide convincing evidence that vadadustat is effective in the treatment of anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. This drug was compared with the commonly prescribed erythropoiesis-stimulating agent darbepoetin alfa. Darbepoetin alfa is identical in structure to recombinant human erythropoietin, except for minor amino acid substitutions that confer enhanced N-linked glycosylation and therefore a prolonged life span in the circulation. Thus, darbepoetin alfa has a high degree of specificity and, when administered at a low dose, poses a minimal risk of cardiovascular or other . . .

Automated summary

The trials show convincing evidence that vadadustat is effective in treating anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease, compared to darbepoetin alfa which has prolonged life span in circulation.