The complementary studies FIDELIO-DKD and FIGARO-DKD in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) examined cardiovascular and kidney outcomes in different, overlapping stages of CKD. The purpose of the FIDELITY analysis was to perform an individual patient-level prespecified pooled efficacy and safety analysis across a broad spectrum of CKD to provide more robust estimates of safety and efficacy of finerenone compared with placebo.For this prespecified analysis, two phase III, multicentre, double-blind trials involving patients with CKD and type 2 diabetes, randomized 1:1 to finerenone or placebo, were combined. Main time-to-event efficacy outcomes were a composite of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure, and a composite of kidney failure, a sustained ≥57% decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate from baseline over ≥4 weeks, or renal death. Among 13 026 patients with a median follow-up of 3.0 years (interquartile range 2.3-3.8 years), the composite cardiovascular outcome occurred in 825 (12.7%) patients receiving finerenone and 939 (14.4%) receiving placebo [hazard ratio (HR), 0.86; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.78-0.95; P = 0.0018]. The composite kidney outcome occurred in 360 (5.5%) patients receiving finerenone and 465 (7.1%) receiving placebo (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.67-0.88; P = 0.0002). Overall safety outcomes were generally similar between treatment arms. Hyperkalaemia leading to permanent treatment discontinuation occurred more frequently in patients receiving finerenone (1.7%) than placebo (0.6%).Finerenone reduced the risk of clinically important cardiovascular and kidney outcomes vs. placebo across the spectrum of CKD in patients with type 2 diabetes.Does finerenone, a novel selective, nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, added to maximum tolerated renin-angiotensin system inhibition reduce cardiovascular disease and kidney disease progression over a broad range of chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes?In a prespecified, pooled individual-level analysis from two randomized trials, we found reductions both in cardiovascular events and kidney failure outcomes with finerenone. Because 40% of the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate of >60 mL/min/1.73m2 they were identified solely on the basis of albuminuria.Finerenone reduces the risk of clinical cardiovascular outcomes and kidney disease progression in a broad range of patients with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes. Screening for albuminuria to identify at-risk patients among patients with type 2 diabetes facilitates reduction of both cardiovascular and kidney disease burden.
Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of finerenone, a selective, non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, on cardiovascular and kidney outcomes by age and/or sex. Design FIDELITY post hoc analysis; median follow-up of 3 years. Setting FIDELITY: a prespecified analysis of the FIDELIO-DKD and FIGARO-DKD trials. Participants Adults with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease receiving optimised renin–angiotensin system inhibitors (N=13 026). Interventions Randomised 1:1; finerenone or placebo. Primary and secondary outcome measures Cardiovascular (cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke or hospitalisation for heart failure (HHF)) and kidney (kidney failure, sustained ≥57% estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline or renal death) composite outcomes. Results Mean age was 64.8 years; 45.2%, 40.1% and 14.7% were aged <65, 65–74 and ≥75 years, respectively; 69.8% were male. Cardiovascular benefits of finerenone versus placebo were consistent across age (HR 0.94 (95% CI 0.81 to 1.10) (<65 years), HR 0.84 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.98) (65–74 years), HR 0.80 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.99) (≥75 years); P interaction =0.42) and sex categories (HR 0.86 (95% CI 0.77 to 0.96) (male), HR 0.89 (95% CI 0.35 to 2.27) (premenopausal female), HR 0.87 (95% CI 0.73 to 1.05) (postmenopausal female); P interaction =0.99). Effects on HHF reduction were not modified by age (P interaction =0.70) but appeared more pronounced in males (P interaction =0.02). Kidney events were reduced with finerenone versus placebo in age groups <65 and 65–74 but not ≥75; no heterogeneity in treatment effect was observed (P interaction =0.51). In sex subgroups, finerenone consistently reduced kidney events (P interaction =0.85). Finerenone reduced albuminuria and eGFR decline regardless of age and sex. Hyperkalaemia increased with finerenone, but discontinuation rates were <3% across subgroups. Gynaecomastia in males was uncommon across age subgroups and identical between treatment groups. Conclusions Finerenone improved cardiovascular and kidney composite outcomes with no significant heterogeneity between age and sex subgroups; however, the effect on HHF appeared more pronounced in males. Finerenone demonstrated a similar safety profile across age and sex subgroups. Trial registration numbers NCT02540993 , NCT02545049 .
Background: Among diabetics, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality, and progression of their underlying disease. Finerenone is a novel, non-steroidal, selective mineralocorticoid-receptor antagonist which has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on renal and CV outcomes has not been investigated in long-term trials yet. Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing Kidney Failure and Disease Progression in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIDELIO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important renal and CV outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIDELIO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 5.5 years. FIDELIO-DKD randomized 5,734 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥25–<75 mL/min/1.73 m2 and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio ≥30–≤5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level α = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of kidney failure, a sustained decrease of eGFR ≥40% from baseline over at least 4 weeks, or renal death. Conclusion: FIDELIO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of renal and CV events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen.
Mass balance and biotransformation of finerenone, a nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, were investigated in four healthy male volunteers following a single oral administration of 10 mg (78 μCi) of [14C]finerenone and compared with data from studies in dogs and rats. The total recovery of the administered radioactivity was 101% in humans, 94.7% in dogs, and 95.2% in rats. In humans, radioactivity was mainly excreted renally (80%); in rats, it was primarily the biliary/fecal route (76%); and in dogs, excretion was more balanced. Finerenone was extensively metabolized in all species by oxidative biotransformation, with minor amounts of unchanged drug in excreta (humans: 1%; dogs, rats: <9%). In vitro studies suggested cytochrome P450 3A4 was the predominant enzyme involved in finerenone metabolism in humans. Primary metabolic transformation involved aromatization of the dihydronaphthyridine moiety of metabolite M1 as a major clearance pathway with a second oxidative pathway leading to M4. These were both prone to further oxidative biotransformation reactions. Naphthyridine metabolites (M1–M3) were the dominant metabolites identified in human plasma, with no on-target pharmacological activity. In dog plasma, finerenone and metabolite M2 constituted the major components; finerenone accounted almost exclusively for drug-related material in rat plasma. For metabolites M1–M3, axial chirality was observed, represented by two atropisomers (e.g., M1a and M1b). Analysis of plasma and excreta showed one atropisomer (a-series, >79%) of each metabolite predominated in all three species. In summary, the present study demonstrates that finerenone is cleared by oxidative biotransformation, mainly via naphthyridine derivatives.
Data on the effect of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist therapy on HbA1c levels and new-onset diabetes are conflicting. We aimed to examine the effect of oral finerenone, compared with placebo, on incident diabetes in the Finerenone Trial to Investigate Efficacy and Safety Superior to Placebo in Patients with Heart Failure (FINEARTS-HF) trial. In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 6001 participants with heart failure with New York Heart Association functional class II-IV, left ventricular ejection fraction 40% or higher, evidence of structural heart disease, and elevated N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels were randomly assigned to finerenone or placebo, administered orally. Randomisation was performed with concealed allocation. The primary outcome of the trial was the composite of cardiovascular death and total (first and recurrent) heart failure events (ie, heart failure hospitalisation or urgent heart failure visit). In the present analysis, participants with diabetes at baseline (investigator-reported history of diabetes or baseline HbA1c ≥6·5%) were excluded. New-onset diabetes was defined as a HbA1c measurement of 6·5% or higher on two consecutive follow-up visits or new initiation of glucose-lowering therapy. The full-analysis set comprised all participants randomly assigned to study treatment, analysed according to their treatment assignment irrespective of the treatment received (ie, intention to treat). The safety analysis set comprised participants randomly assigned to study treatment who took at least one dose of the investigational product, analysed according to the treatment actually received. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04435626, and is closed to new participants. Between Sept 14, 2020, and Jan 10, 2023, 6001 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to finerenone or placebo. 3222 (53·7%) participants did not have diabetes at baseline and comprised the study population. During a median duration of follow-up of 31·3 months (IQR 21·5-36·3), 115 (7·2%) participants in the finerenone group and 147 (9·1%) in the placebo group developed new-onset diabetes, corresponding to a rate of 3·0 events per 100 person-years (95% CI 2·5-3·6) in the finerenone group and 3·9 events per 100 person-years (3·3-4·6) in the placebo group. Compared with placebo, finerenone significantly reduced the hazard of new-onset diabetes by 24% (hazard ratio [HR] 0·76 [95% CI 0·59-0·97], p=0·026). Fine-Gray competing risk analysis, accounting for the competing risk of death, yielded a similar finding (subdistribution HR 0·75 [0·59-0·96], p=0·024). Results were similar in sensitivity analyses, in which the definition of new-onset diabetes was expanded to include initiation of SGLT2 inhibitor treatment with diabetes as indication, restricted to HbA1c measurements only, and restricted to new initiation of glucose-lowering drugs only (excluding SGLT2 inhibitor treatment). Findings were similar when participants treated with glucose-lowering drugs at baseline were excluded (n=15). The effect of finerenone, compared with placebo, on new-onset diabetes was consistent across key participant subgroups. Seven participants had an adverse event of new diabetes not captured by any of the definitions above. In participants with heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction without diabetes, oral finerenone reduced the hazard of new-onset diabetes, representing a meaningful additional clinical benefit of this treatment in these individuals. Bayer.
<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> In FIDELIO-DKD, finerenone significantly improved cardiorenal outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes (T2D). This post hoc analysis explores finerenone in patients from the Asian region. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> In FIDELIO-DKD, 5,674 patients with T2D and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) ≥30–<300 mg/g and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥25–<60 mL/min/1.73 m<sup>2</sup> or UACR ≥300–≤5,000 mg/g and eGFR ≥25–<75 mL/min/1.73 m<sup>2</sup>, treated with optimized renin-angiotensin system blockade, were randomized 1:1 to finerenone or placebo. Efficacy outcomes included a primary kidney composite (time to kidney failure, sustained decrease of ≥40% in eGFR from baseline, and death from renal causes) and secondary cardiovascular (CV) (time to CV death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure) and kidney (time to kidney failure, sustained decrease of ≥57% in eGFR from baseline, and death from renal causes) composites. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Of 1,327 patients in the Asian subgroup, 665 received finerenone. Finerenone reduced the ≥40% and ≥57% eGFR kidney and CV composite outcomes versus placebo in the Asian subgroup (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56–0.87, HR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.55–0.97, and HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.59–1.21, respectively), with no apparent differences versus patients from the rest of the world (HR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.77–1.02; <i>p</i> interaction 0.09, HR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.64–0.95; <i>p</i> interaction 0.71, and HR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.74–1.00; <i>p</i> interaction 0.95, respectively). The safety profile of finerenone was similar across subgroups. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Finerenone produces similar cardiorenal benefits in Asian and non-Asian patients.