Published online Apr 14, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i14.1550
Peer-review started: December 1, 2017
First decision: December 13, 2017
Revised: February 6, 2018
Accepted: March 7, 2018
Article in press: March 6, 2018
Published online: April 14, 2018
Processing time: 131 Days and 12.8 Hours
To compare vonoprazan 10 and 20 mg vs lansoprazole 15 mg as maintenance therapy in healed erosive esophagitis (EE).
A total of 607 patients aged ≥ 20 years, with endoscopically-confirmed healed EE following 8 wk of treatment with vonoprazan 20 mg once daily, were randomized 1:1:1 to receive lansoprazole 15 mg (n = 201), vonoprazan 10 mg (n = 202), or vonoprazan 20 mg (n = 204), once daily. The primary endpoint of the study was the rate of endoscopically-confirmed EE recurrence during a 24-wk maintenance period. The secondary endpoint was the EE recurrence rate at Week 12 during maintenance treatment. Additional efficacy endpoints included the incidence of heartburn and acid reflux, and the EE healing rate 4 wk after the initiation of maintenance treatment. Safety endpoints comprised adverse events (AEs), vital signs, electrocardiogram findings, clinical laboratory results, serum gastrin and pepsinogen I/II levels, and gastric mucosa histopathology results.
Rates of EE recurrence during the 24-wk maintenance period were 16.8%, 5.1%, and 2.0% with lansoprazole 15 mg, vonoprazan 10 mg, and vonoprazan 20 mg, respectively. Vonoprazan was shown to be non-inferior to lansoprazole 15 mg (P < 0.0001 for both doses). In a post-hoc analysis, EE recurrence at Week 24 was significantly reduced with vonoprazan at both the 10 mg and the 20 mg dose vs lansoprazole 15 mg (5.1% vs 16.8%, P = 0.0002, and 2.0% vs 16.8%, P < 0.0001, respectively); by contrast, the EE recurrence rate did not differ significantly between the two doses of vonoprazan (P = 0.1090). The safety profiles of vonoprazan 10 and 20 mg were similar to that of lansoprazole 15 mg in patients with healed EE. Treatment-related AEs were reported in 11.4%, 10.4%, and 10.3% of patients in the lansoprazole 15 mg, vonoprazan 10 mg, and vonoprazan 20 mg arms, respectively.
Our findings confirm the non-inferiority of vonoprazan 10 and 20 mg to lansoprazole 15 mg as maintenance therapy for patients with healed EE.
Core tip: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), including lansoprazole, are widely used to maintain healing of erosive esophagitis (EE) in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease; however, symptoms of reflux persist in significant numbers of patients treated with PPIs. We compared two doses of the novel potassium-competitive acid blocker vonoprazan (10 and 20 mg once daily) with lansoprazole at its approved dose of 15 mg once daily as maintenance therapy for healed EE in 607 Japanese patients. Vonoprazan was shown to be non-inferior to lansoprazole 15 mg at both investigated doses, while demonstrating a similar safety profile.