Trials in Kidney Disease — Time to EVOLVE

Abstract

Patients with kidney disease face a substantially increased risk of cardiovascular events and death — one in five patients who are undergoing dialysis die each year in the United States. Elevated parathyroid hormone levels are almost universal in persons with advanced kidney failure and have been associated with these risks. Cinacalcet is an oral calcimimetic agent approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004 for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with dialysis-dependent kidney failure. Early reports supported the possibility that cinacalcet conferred cardiovascular protection and reduced fracture risk, although the statistical power of these studies . . .