Positive study results buoy NxStage

October 27, 2009 by MassDevice staff

Positive interim results from a study of NxStage Medical Inc.'s home dialysis technology sent the Lawrence, Mass.-based firm's stock soaring.

The hemodialysis device maker said interim results from its Freedom study show that patients performing daily home hemodialysis treatments needed significantly less anti-hypertensive medication than when they were treated at hemodialysis centers.

As of about 12:40 p.m. Oct. 27, NxStage stock was up 4.7 percent, trading at $5.97 per share.

The study compared how much blood pressure-controlling medicine patients were prescribed at the dialysis centers with how much they needed after four months and a year of home dialysis. The results showed a nearly 50 percent reduction in the average number of prescribed anti-hypertensive medications over 12 months. Nearly one-third of patients in the study stopped taking the drugs altogether and 56 percent experienced a 50 percent or greater decrease in the amount of medication they needed to control their blood pressure.

The trial also indicated that home hemodialysis reduced expected mortality rates by 40 percent.

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