Ex Vivo Evaluation of the Effect of Plasma-Derived Factor VIII/Von Willebrand Factor in Patients with Severe Hemophilia_A on Prophylaxis with Emicizumab By Thrombin Generation Assay

Introduction: Hemophilia A (HA) patients under emicizumab prophylaxis treatment may require the concomitant use of procoagulant factors for breakthrough bleedings or immune tolerance induction. Thromboembolic events have been described with the concomitant use of emicizumab and activated prothrombin complex concentrate (aPCC), but not with recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa). Previous studies showed that the in vitro combination of emicizumab and plasma-derived Factor VIII/Von Willebrand Factor (pdFVIII/VWF) had a non-additive effect on thrombin generation (TG)(Bravo M-I, et al J Thromb Haemost. 2020;18:1934-39). The aim of this study was to evaluate the TG resulting from ex vivo combination of plasma samples from HA patients treated with emicizumab, with a pdFVIII/VWF concentrate (Fanhdi ^®, Grifols).

Methods: Twelve adult patients with severe HA without inhibitors on prophylaxis with emicizumab and nine healthy controls were included in the study. Blood samples were drawn in citrate plus corn trypsin inhibitor tubes. Then, platelet poor plasma (PPP) was collected for the TG assay, which measures the whole kinetics of TG. Thrombin peak (TP) and endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) were calculated using calibrated automated thrombogram (Thrombinoscope ^™ software, Stago) after in vitro activation of coagulation by trigger solution, PPP Reagent LOW ^TM (4 μM phospholipids/1 pM tissue factor), fluorogenic substrate and CaCl ₂ (FLUKAkit ^TM) reagents (Diagnostica Stago). Fluorescence was read in a Fluoroskan Ascent reader (Thermo) equipped with a 390/460 filter set. Samples were spiked with increasing concentrations of pdFVIII/VWF (10 to 400 IU/dL), rFVIIa (0.9 µg/mL) or aPCC (0.5 U/mL).

Results: TG from healthy control samples was measured to establish TP and ETP normal ranges. TP and ETP results obtained from HA plasma with emicizumab were lower than in healthy controls. The addition of pdFVIII/VWF as of 25 IU/kg (prophylaxis dose in HA w/o inhibitors) to samples from HA patients concomitantly treated with emicizumab restored TP and ETP levels within healthy controls normal range (Table 1). Increasing ex vivo concentrations of pdFVIII/VWF maintained TP and ETP similar to healthy controls. The highest concentration of concomitant treatment with pdFVIII/VWF (200 IU/kg) and emicizumab did not result in excessive TP and, importantly, ETP levels were always within the normal range. The combination with the bypassing agent rFVIIa moderately increased TP and ETP values up to normal range. However, when HA plasma was spiked with aPCC in the presence of emicizumab, TP and ETP dramatically increased above normal range resulting in a synergistic procoagulant profile.

Conclusions: The concomitant use of pdFVIII/VWF in patients with prophylaxis with emicizumab did not trigger a multiplying effect on TG. These results were aligned with previous in vitro data and suggested the low risk of overdose and thrombotic events of concomitant treatment emicizumab with the pdFVIII/VWF concentrate in HA patients.

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