Safety and effectiveness of biosimilar enoxaparin (Inhixa) for the prevention of thromboembolism in medical and surgical inpatients

In 2016, biosimilar enoxaparin (Inhixa®, Techdow) was introduced in European markets with the same indications as branded enoxaparin (Clexane®, Sanofi). Its use is constantly increasing in clinical practice, however, little information from post-marketing clinical trials is available on its safety and effectiveness. We conducted an observational, retrospective study to assess the safety and effectiveness of Inhixa in preventing venous thromboembolism (VTE) in medically ill patients and in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. We then compared our results with the incidence of symptomatic VTE and bleeding events during treatment with Clexane by pooling the results of clinical studies carried out in the same settings. We enrolled 381 patients, 189 admitted to a Medical Department and 192 to a Surgical Department from two single institutions. The incidence of major bleeding events was 1.8% globally (95% IC 0.7–3.8), 1.6% in medical patients (95% IC 0.3–4.6) and 2.1% in surgical patients (95% IC 0.6–5.3). VTE rate was 0.5% in the whole population (95% IC 0.1–1.9) and 0.5% (95% IC 0.01–2.9) in each group, respectively. The pooled estimate of the incidence of major bleeding with Clexane was 0.5% (IC 95%: 0.2–1.1) in medical patients and 2.6% (IC 95% 1.3–5.1) in surgical patients. The incidence of thrombotic events was 0.6% (IC 95%: 0.2–1.8) and 0.7% (CI95% 0.3–1.6), respectively. The incidence of bleeding and thrombosis in medical and surgical patients receiving Inhixa was low suggesting biosimilar enoxaparin is a valid alternative to branded enoxaparin.