Pharmacotherapeutic group: Urologicals, Drugs for urinary frequency and incontinence, ATC code: G04BD15.
Mechanism of action
Vibegron is a selective and potent human beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist over β1-AR and β2-AR. Activation of the beta-3 adrenergic receptor located in the bladder detrusor muscle increases bladder capacity by relaxing the detrusor smooth muscle during bladder filling.
Clinical efficacy and safety
The efficacy of vibegron 75 mg was evaluated in a phase 3, 12-week, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, and active-controlled trial (EMPOWUR) in OAB patients with symptoms of urgency and urinary frequency with or without urge urinary incontinence (UUI). Patients were randomised 5:5:4 to receive either vibegron 75 mg, placebo, or tolterodine ER 4 mg orally, once daily for 12 weeks. For study entry, patients had to have symptoms of OAB for at least 3 months with an average of 8 or more micturitions per day and at least 1 UUI per day, or an average of 8 or more micturitions per day and an average of at least 3 urgency episodes per day. UUI was defined as leakage of urine of any amount because the patient felt an urge or need to urinate immediately. The study population included OAB medicinal product-naïve patients as well as patients who had received prior therapy with OAB medicinal product. A total of 1 518 patients were randomised: 547 subjects were randomised to the vibegron group, 540 to the placebo group, and 431 to the tolterodine group. Of these 1 518 patients, 54 patients (10.0%) administered with placebo and 45 patients (8.2%) in the vibegron 75 mg group discontinued from the study. The main reason for study discontinuation was consent withdrawal (3.9% in the placebo group and 2.6% in the vibegron group).
The co-primary endpoints were change from baseline in average daily number of micturitions and average daily number of UUI episodes at Week 12. Important secondary endpoints included change from baseline in average daily number of urgency episodes, average daily number of total incontinence episodes, average volume voided per micturition, % of patients with ≥ 75% and 100% reduction in the average daily number of UUI episodes, and Overactive Bladder Questionnaire Long Form (OAB-q LF) coping domain score.
A total of 1 515 patients received at least one daily dose of placebo (n=540), vibegron 75 mg (n=545), or active control (n=430). The majority of patients were Caucasian (78%) and female (85%) with a mean age of 60 (range 18 to 93) years, 77% patients presenting with UUI (OAB Wet). The percentage of patients at baseline over 65 years of age was 42.6% and over 75 years of age was 12.1%.
Vibegron 75 mg was effective in treating the symptoms of OAB within 2 weeks and efficacy was maintained throughout the 12-week treatment period (results are presented below in Table 2).
Table 2: Mean baseline and change from baseline at week 12 for frequency of micturition, urge urinary incontinence episodes, urgency episodes, total incontinence episodes, and volume voided per micturition
| Parameter | Placebo | Vibegron 75 mg | Tolterodine ER 4 mg |
| Average daily number of micturitionsa |
| Baseline mean (n) | 11.8 (520) | 11.3 (526) | 11.5 (417) |
| Change from baselineb (n) | -1.3 (475) | -1.8 (492) | -1.6 (378) |
| Difference from placebo | -0.5 | -0.3 |
| 95% Confidence Interval | -0.8, -0.2 | -0.6, 0.1 |
| p-value | <0.001d e | 0.0988 |
| Average daily number of UUI episodesc |
| Baseline mean (n) | 3.5 (405) | 3.4 (403) | 3.4 (319) |
| Change from baselineb (n) | -1.4 (372) | -2.0 (383) | -1.8 (286) |
| Difference from placebo | -0.6 | -0.4 |
| 95% Confidence Interval | -0.9, -0.3 | -0.7, -0.1 |
| p-value | <0.0001d, e | 0.0123 |
| Average daily number of “need to urinate immediately” (urgency) episodesa |
| Baseline mean (n) | 8.1 (520) | 8.1 (526) | 7.9 (417) |
| Change from baselineb (n) | -2.0 (475) | -2.7 (492) | -2.5 (378) |
| Difference from placebo | -0.7 | -0.4 |
| 95% Confidence Interval | -1.1, -0.2 | -0.9, 0.0 |
| p-value | 0.002 d, e | 0.0648 |
| Average daily number of total incontinence episodesc |
| Baseline mean (n) | 4.2 (405) | 4.1 (403) | 4.1 (319) |
| Change from baselineb (n) | -1.6 (372) | -2.3 (383) | -2.0 (286) |
| Difference from placebo | -0.7 | -0.5 |
| 95% Confidence Interval | -1.0, -0.4 | -0.8, -0.1 |
| p-value | <0.0001 d, e | 0.0074 |
| Average volume voided (mL) per micturitiona |
| Baseline mean (n) | 148 (514) | 155 (524) | 147 (415) |
| Change from baselineb (n) | 2 (478) | 24 (490) | 16 (375) |
| Difference from placebo | 21 | 13 |
| 95% Confidence Interval | 14, 28 | 9, 22 |
| p-value | <0.0001d, e | <0.001 |
| a FAS-population: Full analysis set. All randomised patients with OAB who took at least 1 dose of double-blind study treatment and had at least one evaluable change from baseline micturition measurement. b Least squares mean adjusted for treatment, baseline, OAB type (only for analyses on FAS), gender, geographical region, study visit, and study visit by treatment interaction term. c FAS-I population: used for incontinence endpoints and included patients in the FAS population with OAB Wet at study entry who had at least 1 evaluable change from baseline UUI measurement. d Statistically significant. e Parameters included in the multiple testing procedure. Hypothesis testing was only performed for vibegron-placebo. |
Additional key secondary endpoints included the proportion of patients with a reduction at week 12 compared to baseline in average daily number of UUI episodes of ≥ 75% or 100%. Results are presented below (Table 3).
Table 3: Secondary efficacy analysis: urge urinary incontinence 75% and 100% responder analysis at week 12 – FAS-I (included patients in the FAS population with OAB Wet at study entry who had at least 1 evaluable change from baseline UUI measurement)
| Statistic | Placebo N=405 | Vibegron 75 mg N=403 | Tolterodine ER 4 mg N=319 |
| Subjects with at least 75% reduction in UUI from baseline at week 12 |
| Estimated* n (%) | 133 (32.8) | 199 (49.3) | 135 (42.2) |
| Active-Placeboa |
| CMH Difference | | 16.5 | 9.4 |
| 95% CI | | [9.7; 23.4] | [2.1; 16.7] |
| p-value | | < 0.0001b, c | 0.0120 |
| Patients with 100% reduction in UUI from baseline at week 12 |
| Estimated* n (%) | 77 (19.0) | 102 (25.3) | 67 (20.9) |
| Active-Placeboa |
| CMH Difference | | 6.3 | 1.9 |
| 95% CI | | [0.4; 12.1] | [-4.1; 7.8] |
| p-value | | 0.0360 b, c | 0.5447 |
Notes: MI was used to impute values missing for any reason at the weeks analysed.
Presented frequencies and the denominator used for percentage were based on subjects in the FAS-I and randomised treatment.
*The estimated proportion uses the SAS procedure MIANALYZE with standard multiple imputation effect estimation.
a The difference in proportion and corresponding CI and p-value was calculated using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel risk difference estimate stratified by sex (female vs male), with weights proposed by Greenland and Robins.
b Statistically significant.
c Comparisons included in the multiple testing procedure. Comparisons between tolterodine ER and placebo are considered descriptive.
The long-term safety and efficacy of vibegron 75 mg was evaluated for up to 52 weeks in a phase 3 extension study in 505 patients who had completed the 12-week phase 3 study (EMPOWUR).
Paediatric population
The European Medicines Agency has deferred the obligation to submit the results of studies with Obgemsa in one or more subsets of the paediatric population in the treatment of neurogenic detrusor overactivity (see section 4.2 for information on paediatric use).