Vifor Pharma's iron-deficiency therapy Ferinject missed its main goal of reducing risk of total heart failure hospitalizations and cardiovascular death in a trial of 1,132 hospitalized patients, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday.
"The trial narrowly missed statistical significance on its composite primary endpoint," Vifor said in a statement.
Vifor is studying the product, with just over 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion) in sales in 2019, in heart failure patients, many of whom suffer from iron deficiency.
While the trial missed its main goal, Vifor said that the "totality of evidence" suggests that the treatment may provide a clinical benefit to high-risk heart failure patients.
Vifor also said Ferinject appeared to make a "statistically significant difference" in improving cardiovascular mortality and hospitalization for heart failure, when taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts. The study results will be presented at the American Heart Association congress in November, it said.
(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Michael Shields)
