OK, so Renagel is no longer on the market (the formulation has been changed and Genzyme has renamed it's offering Renvela). Yeah, it was only a 4 week study with a limited amount of ESRD patients. Sure, it barely reached statistical significance. Alright, it was sponsored by Shire, the maker of Fosrenol which always gives the whiff of some bias... But, it sure is nice to see a head-to-head studies of current competing drugs going at it.Accordingly, Shire publishes the results of its study comparing Fosrenol to Renagel in the latest issue of Clinical Nephrology. The results not suprisingly favor Fosrenol as the superior phosphorous binder in this short four week trial. I am not sure it answers any significant question for nephrologists or dialyzors. Both medications work, getting the precise equivalent doses of the respective medications for the proper evaluation may be an exercise in futility.. but cheers for Shire for trying... go get em tiger.
A more mundane but important question in this debare and one I often ask my patients when choosing: Would you rather chew a (?tasteless) tablet or would you prefer swallowing an extra 3 pills or so with each meal three times a day, everyday?
3 comments:
Also to consider is the fact that some lanthanum which remains unbound is absorbed into the body.
As the "Important Safety Information" on lanthanum carbonate advertisements states: "While lanthanum has been shown to accumulate in the GI tract, liver, and bone in animals, the clinical significance in humans is unknown."
Perhaps now is a good time to study that unknown clinical significance in humans.
Zach,
Check your facts. Apparently Fosrenol has been studied, in over 5000 patients, for over 8 years, with no evidence of clinical toxicities observed. Open a journal sometime.
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