Effectiveness and safety of empegfilgrastim (Extimia®, BIOCAD) in patients with lymphoproliferative diseases receiving cytotoxic therapy: results of LEGERITY, a multicenter retrospective-and-prospective observational post-marketing study

Aim. To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Extimia® BIOCAD (international non-proprietary name: empegfilgrastim) to reduce the incidence and duration of neutropenia, the incidence of febrile neutropenia (FN) and infections associated with FN in patients with lymphoproliferative diseases receiving myelosuppressive therapy. Materials and methods. The paper presents the results of a multicenter retrospective-and-prospective observational post-marketing study of the safety and effectiveness of Extimia® BIOCAD (international non-proprietary name: empegfilgrastim) in patients with lymphoproliferative diseases receiving cytotoxic therapy. Initially, the study was defined as retrospective-and-prospective. However, only 2 of 671 (0.3%) patients were included retrospectively. Thus, the study is based on the evaluation of prospectively collected data. The analysis describes the characteristics and treatment of 671 patients diagnosed with lymphoma who received one or more cycles of chemotherapy in the LEGERITY study. The endpoints of interest included the incidence of grade 3–4 neutropenia, FN, and grade 3–4 infectious complications, the frequency of antibiotic therapy, and the incidence of all adverse reactions in patients who received at least one dose of the study medication. Results. A total of 671 patients were enrolled in the study, the majority having B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (428/671, 64%) and Hodgkin lymphoma (211/671, 31%). The mean age was 54 years (18–84); 35% (236/671) of patients were elderly (over 60). The number of injections of empegfilgrastim for the entire observation period was 3093 (n=671). Adverse events were reported in 57/3093 (1.8%) cases. The most common adverse events were mild to moderate ossalgia and myalgia (27/671, 4%), back pain, and arthralgia (12/671, 1.8%), which did not require drug therapy. Two patients developed serious adverse reactions – CTCAE v.5 grade 4 hypotension events. 529 (78.8%) patients received at least 4 courses of chemotherapy. FN was reported in 14 (2.6%) patients and did not require antimicrobial therapy. Conclusion. The final analysis results confirm the high clinical efficacy and safety of the Russian original pegylated granulocyte colony-stimulating factor empegfilgrastim (Extimia®) in patients with indolent and aggressive lymphomas. The data obtained from real-world clinical practice demonstrate a favorable safety and tolerability profile of empegfilgrastim in all age groups, including the elderly population.