A subgroup analysis including the effect of repository corticotropin injection (Acthar Gel) on African American adults with advanced symptomatic sarcoidosis was presented in the poster hall at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Annual International Conference this month. Presenter Kyle Hayes, Senior Manager, HEOR Value Evidence Generation, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals discussed the research in an interview with HCPLive.

This analysis was selected from a published retrospective chart review of physician-reported improvement in disease and related symptoms after treatment with repository corticotropin injection, Hayes explained.

“We focused the subgroup analysis specifically on African Americans because this group is more frequently and severely impacted by sarcoidosis,” he said. “They can be 4 times, to 17 times more likely to develop sarcoidosis than Caucasians, and traditionally, this racial group has been underserved in treatment and management of disease.”

Because this subgroup made up the largest proportion of the original chart review at 55% of the patient population, investigators wanted to compare their outcomes as a subgroup to outcomes of the entire patient population included in the original chart review.

“In this analysis, there were improvement in patients’ current health status. So, 95% of patients showed improvement. There was also approximately 73%, showing improvement in overall symptoms, 34% with improvement in inflammation, and 32%, with improved quality of life, in the 3 months following Acthar treatment,” Hayes said.

In addition to these improvements, investigators observed significant and overall reduction in the use of concomitant medication, especially glucocorticoids, which reduced from 60% to approximately 20%, in the 3 months following treatment, according to Hayes.

Acthar gel is 1 of only 2 treatments approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for sarcoidosis, with the other being glucocorticoids, which is known to be associated with a number of side effects and should be reduced if possible, he said.

“So, Acthar gel has a mechanism of action (MOA) that activates the melanocortin signaling pathway through all 5 of the melanocortin receptors,” Hayes said. “The proposed MOA results in a dual indirect anti-inflammatory effect from low level endogenous cortisol production.”