Pharmacotherapeutic group: Antithrombotic agents, Heparin group, ATC code: B01AB10
Mechanism of action
Tinzaparin sodium is a low molecular weight heparin of porcine origin with an anti-Xa/anti-IIa ratio between 1.5 and 2.5. Tinzaparin sodium is produced by enzymatic depolymerisation of conventional unfractionated heparin. Like conventional heparin, tinzaparin sodium acts as an anticoagulant by potentiating antithrombin III's inhibition of activated coagulation factors, primarily factor Xa.
The biological activity of tinzaparin sodium is standardised against the current "International standards for low molecular weight heparins", and expressed in anti-Xa international units (IU).
The anti-Xa activity of tinzaparin sodium is not less than 70 and not more than 120 IU/mg. The anti-IIa activity of tinzaparin sodium is approximately 55 IU/mg. The characteristic value of the mass-average molecular mass of tinzaparin sodium is about 6,500 daltons.
Pharmacodynamic effects
Tinzaparin has a high antithrombin activity (anti-IIa), a low anti-Xa/anti-IIa ratio and an inhibition of thrombin formation with almost the same potency as unfractionated heparin. In addition to its anti-Xa/IIa activity, induction of TFPI (Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor) has been identified in patients.
Tinzaparin has a high average molecular weight (see Mechanism of action above).
Clinical efficacy and safety
Initial treatment of acute deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism
In a double-blind clinical study, tinzaparin (175 IU/kg subcutaneously once daily) was compared with dose-adjusted heparin administered by continuous intravenous infusion for the initial treatment of patients with proximal venous thrombosis. All patients started oral anticoagulation therapy with warfarin on day 2, and were treated with tinzaparin or heparin for at least six days. Six of 213 patients receiving tinzaparin (2.8%) and 15 of 219 patients receiving heparin (6.9%) had a recurrent episode of venous thromboembolism (VTE) (p = 0.07) during the study's 3-month follow-up period. Severe haemorrhages that were determined to be associated with the initial treatment occurred in one patient who received tinzaparin (0.5%) and in 11 patients who received heparin (5.0%), corresponding to a 91% reduction in risk (p = 0.006). There were 10 deaths in the tinzaparin group (4.7%) and 21 in the heparin group (9.6%), which corresponds to a risk reduction of 51% (p = 0.049).
In an unblinded study (THESEE), 612 patients with symptomatic pulmonary embolism were randomised to tinzaparin (175 IU/kg subcutaneously once daily) or dose-adjusted intravenous heparin, during the first 8 days of treatment. Oral anticoagulation therapy was introduced on days 1-3 and was administered for at least 3 months. Based on a combined endpoint (recurrent VTE, severe haemorrhage and death), 9 of 308 patients in the heparin group (2.9%) and 9 of 304 patients in the tinzaparin group (3.0%) had achieved at least one endpoint on day 8 (absolute difference: -0.1%; 95% Kl: -2.7 to 2.6).
Prolonged treatment of acute deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism
In a sub-analysis (“Main-LITE cancer”) of a randomised, open-label clinical study, tinzaparin (175 IU/kg subcutaneously once daily) was compared with warfarin for 3 months of treatment in patients with proximal venous thrombosis. Of the 200 patients who had cancer (100 patients in each group), there were more cases of recurrent VTE after 12 months in the warfarin group (16%) compared with the tinzaparin group (7%) (absolute difference: -9.0; 95% CI: -21.7 to -0.7). During 3 months, severe haemorrhage was reported in 7% of patients in both of the groups. At one year, mortality was 47% in both groups.
In a controlled, open-label, randomised clinical study (CATCH), the efficacy and safety of tinzaparin were compared to warfarin after 6 months of treatment of acute, symptomatic DVT, or pulmonary embolism in patients with active cancer. The study included 900 patients with renal function corresponding to a creatinine clearance (CrCl) of down to 20 mL/min. Patients with a thrombocyte count below 50 × 109/L were not included in the study. The patients in the tinzaparin group received full-dose tinzaparin injections (175 IU/kg subcutaneously) once daily throughout the treatment period (6 months) and were compared with patients receiving tinzaparin once daily for 5–10 days, followed by dose-adjusted warfarin (INR: 2.0–3.0) for 6 months. Efficacy outcomes (DVT in the lower extremities and pulmonary embolism) and safety outcomes (bleeding events, heparin-induced thrombocytopaenia and death) were assessed by a blinded committee. Recurrent VTE occurred in 31 of 449 patients in the tinzaparin group and 45 of 451 patients in the warfarin group (6-month cumulative incidence: 7.2% for tinzaparin compared to 10.5% for warfarin; hazard ratio [HR]: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.41–1.03; p = 0.07). Symptomatic DVT occurred in 12 patients in the tinzaparin group and in 24 patients in the warfarin group (HR: 0.48; 95% Cl: 0.24–0.96; p = 0.04) There was no significant difference in severe bleeding events (HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.40–1.99; p = 0.77), or mortality from all causes (1.08; 95% CI: 0.85–1.36; p = 0.54), but on the other hand there was a statistically-significant reduced risk of clinically-relevant, non-severe bleeding in the tinzaparin group compared to the warfarin group (HR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.40–0.84; p = 0.004).
In a pre-specified secondary analysis of the CATCH Study, where competing outcomes were used for a regression analysis of the time to first clinically-relevant bleeding (CRB; severe and clinically-relevant, non-severe events), the risk of having at least one CRB event during the 6-month study was significantly lower in the tinzaparin group (n = 60/449) than in the warfarin group (n = 78/451), HR: 0.64; 95% Cl: 0.45–0.89; p = 0.009. The cumulative incidence rates of CRB in the two groups differed almost immediately and continued to show a benefit for tinzaparin patients during the six-month treatment period (see Figure 1). In a multivariate analysis for all treatment groups, the risk of CRB was found to increase with age > 75 years (HR 1.83) and intracranial malignancy (HR 1.97).
Figure 1
A prospective, open-label clinical study (“TICAT”) included 247 patients with active cancer and newly diagnosed DVT and/or pulmonary embolism. The average duration of treatment with tinzaparin (175 IU/kg subcutaneously once daily) was 15.6 (SD: 13.2) months. The incidence of recurrent VTE decreased during the study from 4.5% during the first 6 months (95% CI: 2.2% –7.8%) to 1.1% (95% CI: 0.1% –3.9%) during months 7–12 (p = 0.08). The incidence of clinically relevant bleeding was 0.9% per patient month (95% CI: 0.5% –1.6%) during the first 6 months and 0.6% per patient month (95% CI: 0.2% –1.4%) during months 7–12. One patient (0.4%) died due to recurrent pulmonary embolism and 2 patients (0.8%) died due to haemorrhage.
Special patient populations
Population with renal impairment
In a prospective study, it was investigated whether tinzaparin (175 anti-Xa IU/kg subcutaneously once daily) accumulated during 10 days of treatment in 30 inpatients older than 70 years of age, who received a therapeutic dose for acute thromboembolic disease. Plasma levels of anti-Xa and anti-IIa, as well as activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), were determined before the first injection at peak levels, i.e. 5 hours after the second injection (day 2) and on days 5, 7 and 10. The patients were on average 87 years old (range: 71-96 years of age), had a body weight of 62.7 kg (range: 38-90 kg) and a CrCl mean of 40.6 ± 15.3 mL/min (range: 20-72 mL/min). Since no patient had an anti-Xa activity above 1.5 IU/mL, no dose adjustment was made. The average maximum anti-Xa level was 0.66 ± 0.20 IU/mL (range: 0.26–1.04) on day 2. There was no progressive increase in anti-Xa or anti-IIa activity after repeated daily treatment with tinzaparin for 10 days. No correlation was found between anti-Xa and anti-IIa activities and age, weight or CrCl. No severe bleeding occurred and there were no thromboembolic complications or deaths.
The safety profile of tinzaparin (175 IU/kg once daily) for up to 30 days was investigated in a study involving 200 elderly inpatients with a CrCl of > 20 mL/min. The mean age was 85.2 years (range: 70 to 102) and the average CrCl was 51.2 ± 22.9 mL/min. The anti-Xa activity in plasma was measured regularly. No correlation was observed between anti-Xa activity and CrCI or age but 13% of patients had a dose reduction due to anti-Xa activity ≥1.4 IU/ml. One death was suspected of having been related to anticoagulation therapy. Three severe bleeding episodes (1.5%) were reported. Heparin-induced thrombocytopaenia was confirmed in 2 patients (1%).
A secondary analysis of the CATCH Study assessed the effect of renal impairment (RI, defined as glomerular filtration rate [GFR] < 60 m /min/1.73 m2) on the efficacy and safety of anticoagulation therapy in patients with cancer-associated thrombosis. The study population for this analysis included 864 patients (96%) for whom a GFR value from a central laboratory was available at the time of randomisation. Of these, 131 patients (15%) had baseline renal impairment (69 in the tinzaparin group and 62 in the warfarin group). Renal impairment was associated with a statistically significant increase in recurrent VTE and severe haemorrhage but no significant increase in clinically relevant bleeding (CRB) or mortality was observed. Long-term treatment with tinzaparin at full therapeutic dose, without dose adjustment in patients with renal impairment, did not increase the incidence of recurrent VTE, CRB, severe haemorrhage or mortality compared to warfarin.