Kyowa Kirin Announces Launch of Duvroq in Japan for Patients with Renal Anemia due to Chronic Kidney Disease

Tokyo, Japan, August 26, 2020 – Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. (Kyowa Kirin, TSE: 4151) today announced that Duvroq (daprodustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI), is launched in Japan today, for the treatment of patients with renal anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Duvroq belongs to a new class of oral medicine indicated for the treatment of renal anemia due to CKD in adult patient. The drug reduces renal anemia and benefits patients by encouraging the bone marrow to make more red blood cells. The drug has been developed to provide an orally-convenient treatment option which avoids the administration challenges and cold storage requirements of injectable erythropoiesis-stimulating agents/recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO). In addition to this, since Duvroq can be used for the patients on and not on dialysis, the launch of the drug could enable us to provide more convenient treatment to patients with renal anemia.

The addition of Duvroq to Kyowa Kirin's renal drugs, which is our advantage and core therapeutic area, allows us to offer a broader range of treatment options to patients with CKD and healthcare professionals. Kyowa Kirin is now able to meet the needs of an even greater number of patients.

“I believe that the launch of Duvroq will add a new treatment option to patients and healthcare professionals to better control renal anemia in many different environments.” said Tomohiro Sudo, Executive Officer, Director of Strategy Product Planning Department of Kyowa Kirin. “We continue to commit ourselves to apply our expertise, bring innovative new drugs and help patients with CKD to live better.”

Kyowa Kirin will be exclusively responsible for the product distribution in Japan, following the strategic commercialization deal with GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) in 2018. Drug information service activities will be led by Kyowa Kirin. GSK will support Kyowa Kirin with scientific engagement through medical science liaisons.

The Kyowa Kirin Group companies strive to contribute to the health and well-being of people around the world by creating new value through the pursuit of advances in life sciences and technologies.

Anemia is the term used to describe a decrease of red blood cells or hemoglobin concentration which carry oxygen to the body, and in general, hemoglobin is used for diagnosis of anemia. Kidneys produce hormones including erythropoietin, which stimulates red blood cell production. Renal anemia commonly arises in patients with kidney impairment because the kidneys no longer produce sufficient amount of erythropoietin, a hormone involved in prompting the production of red blood cells.¹ The incidence of renal anemia increases as kidney function declines. It is estimated that 10.9 million patients in Japan have stages 3-5 CKD and of these, 32% have anaemia.^2,3

Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. is a research-based life sciences company, with special strengths in biotechnologies. In the core therapeutic areas of oncology, nephrology and immunology/allergy, Kyowa Kirin leverages leading-edge biotechnologies centered on antibody technologies, to continually discover innovative new drugs and to develop and market those drugs world-wide. In this way, the company is working to realize its vision of becoming a Japan-based global specialty pharmaceutical company that contributes to the health and wellbeing of people around the world.

You can learn more about the business at www.kyowakirin.com