This study aims at exploring the use of empagliflozin in children and adolescents 6-18 years old with Duchenne muscular distrophy (DMD) - associated cardiomyopathy. This molecule is effective in reducing hospitalizations and mortality in adults with heart failure and is used in adolescents with type 2 diabetes mellitus, but little is known on children and adolescents with heart failure. Particularly, the best dose to use in this population is currently unknown. This trial aims to: 1. define a dose rationale for this indication and age group (pharmacokinetic study), 2. assess and monitor safety, 3. assess ease-of-swallow, 4. explore middle-term (3-6 months) efficacy and efficacy markers. Participants will be asked to attend 5 study visits over 6 months, and one end-study visit 2-12 weeks thereafter. Visit 1 will entail an 8h day-hospital stay, while Visits 2, 3, 4 and 5, as well as the end-study visit, will be outpatient clinics (approximately 2h). Participants will be asked to take the studied drug once daily during the 6 months of the study period. No comparison group is foreseen for this study.
Cardiac disease represents the main life-limiting condition in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). It is important to recognize and address this early in the disease course. Because of lack of DMD specific drugs, present attitudes for established DMD-related cardiomyopathy ground on current treatment for heart failure. Unfortunately, however, current heart failure therapy in Paediatrics is still unsatisfactory, with high in-hospital (7-26%), and 5-year mortality (30%-50%). Furthermore, mortality rate for DMD cardiomyopathy is worse than similarly aged idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients. Among the recent improvements in adult heart failure management, the sodium glucose transporter type 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) dapagliflozin and empagliflozin were found to reduce cardiovascular death or worsening heart failure by 25% on top of optimal medical therapy. Indeed, since 2021, they have been recommended as part of standard heart failure therapy. In the past, paediatric heart failure trials often failed, mainly because of suboptimal dose or inappropriate formulations and endpoints. This phase II.a, open-label trial is designed to characterize pharmacokinetics (primary outcome), ease-of-swallow, safety and explore potential efficacy markers (secondary outcomes) of empagliflozin in 12 children and adolescents with DMD-related cardiomyopathy, so to inform the design and performance of subsequent, state-of-the-art, high-quality efficacy trials. Participants will receive empagliflozin during 6 months. They will have 5 visits, one end-study visit and 7 to 8 pharmacokinetic samples. The timing of these samples will be optimized exploiting contemporary modeling and simulation techniques. Safety evaluation will occur throughout the study, while ease-of-swallow will be evaluated at Visit 1, and efficacy markers at Visits 1, 4 and 5. Pharmacokinetic modeling will characterize primary and secondary pharmacokinetic parameters and allow to define the optimal paediatric dose, informing both current compassionate-care use and the design of future efficacy trials.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
12
Empagliflozin 10mg p.o. once daily (commercially available tablet)
Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Pharmacokinetics - apparent clearance (CL/F)
Empagliflozin concentrations at the different time-points (6 samples at Visit 1, 1 opportunistic sample at Visits 2 and 3; the timing of the samples will be optimized with modeling \& simulation techniques). Basing on these concentrations, non-compartmental pharmacokinetic calculations will be performed, allowing to determine pharmacokinetic parameters (including CL/F).
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 3 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks after study start)
Pharmacokinetics - apparent (central) volume of distribution (Vd/F)
Empagliflozin concentrations at the different time-points (6 samples at Visit 1, 1 opportunistic sample at Visits 2 and 3; the timing of the samples will be optimized with modeling \& simulation techniques). Basing on these concentrations, non-compartmental pharmacokinetic calculations will be performed, allowing to determine pharmacokinetic parameters (including Vd/F).
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 3 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks after study start)
Pharmacokinetics - half-life
Empagliflozin concentrations at the different time-points (6 samples at Visit 1, 1 opportunistic sample at Visits 2 and 3; the timing of the samples will be optimized with modeling \& simulation techniques). Basing on these concentrations, non-compartmental pharmacokinetic calculations will be performed, allowing to determine pharmacokinetic parameters (including t1/2).
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 3 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks after study start)
Pharmacokinetics - AUC
Empagliflozin concentrations at the different time-points (6 samples at Visit 1, 1 opportunistic sample at Visits 2 and 3; the timing of the samples will be optimized with modeling \& simulation techniques). Basing on these concentrations, non-compartmental pharmacokinetic calculations will be performed, allowing to determine pharmacokinetic parameters (including AUC).
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 3 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks after study start)
Pharmacokinetics - maximal concentration (Cmax)
Empagliflozin concentrations at the different time-points (6 samples at Visit 1, 1 opportunistic sample at Visits 2 and 3; the timing of the samples will be optimized with modeling \& simulation techniques). Basing on these concentrations, non-compartmental pharmacokinetic calculations will be performed, allowing to determine pharmacokinetic parameters (including Cmax).
Time frame: Time Frame: Visit 1 to Visit 3 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks after study start)
Safety 1 - eGFR
Creatinine, respectively Cystatin C, will be collected in order to calculate eGFR (bedside Schwartz formula, respectively Filler equation).
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Safety 2 - Occurrence of hypoglycemia
Blood glucose will be checked three times at Visit 1 (baseline, at approximately 2-3h post-intake, and before discharge at 8h post-intake), as well as once at Visits 2 to 5. Outcome measure: number of patients experiencing hypoglycemia.
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Safety 3 - Occurrence of ketoacidosis
The outcome is presence (or absence) of ketoacidosis. This will be assessed at Visits 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Outcome measure: number of patients experiencing ketoacidosis.
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Safety 4 - Occurrence of UTI
The outcome is presence (or absence) of UTI diagnosis. This will be assessed at Visits 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Outcome measure: number of patients experiencing UTI between Visit 2 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Ease of swallow
Ease of swallow will be assessed by means of facial hedonic scales, according to our standard procedure, at Visit 1. (Scale 1 to 4, 1 being the worse and 4 the best score: very difficult - difficult - possible - easy to swallow.)
Time frame: Visit 1 (Visit 1 = day 1)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 1 - Heart failure severity class
Symptoms, clinical signs, NYHA (if \> or =8 years of age) / Ross (if \<8 years of age) class assignment. NYHA and Ross heart failure classes share the same scale of I (no limitation of physical activity) to IV (symptoms at rest). Analysis will be performed at Visit 1, Visit 4 and Visit 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
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Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 2 - NT-proBNP level
Analysis will be performed at Visits 1, 3, 4 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visit 1 to Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 2 = 1 week, Visit 3 = 5-6 weeks, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 3 - Echocardiography 1: Left-ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDd)
LVEDd (z-score) will be measured at Visits 1, 4 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visits 1, 4 and 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 4 - Echocardiography 2: Left-ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESd)
LVESd (z-score) will be measured at Visits 1, 4 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visits 1, 4 and 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 5 - Echocardiography 3: Fractional shortening (FS)
FS (%) will be measured at Visits 1, 4 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visits 1, 4 and 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 6 - Echocardiography 4: Left ventricular ejection fraction (LV-EF)
LV-EF (%) will be measured at Visits 1, 4 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visits 1, 4 and 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 4 = 3 months, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 7 - cMRI 1: Left ventricular end-diastolic volume
LV end-diastolic volume will be measured at Visits 1 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visit 1, Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 8 - cMRI 2: Left ventricular end-systolic volume
LV end-systolic volume will be measured at Visits 1 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visit 1, Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 9 - cMRI 3: Left ventricular ejection fraction
LV end-systolic ejection fraction will be measured/calculated at Visits 1 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visit 1, Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 10 - cMRI 4: Presence of late gadolinium enhancement
Presence (y) or absence (n) of late gadolinium enhancement in each of the 17 AHA segments will be measured at Visits 1 and 5. Outcome: change in number of LGE positive segments between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visit 1, Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)
Efficacy and efficacy markers (exploratory) 11 - cMRI 5: Extracellular volume (ECV)
Extracellular volume (ECV) will be measured/calculated at Visits 1 and 5. Outcome: change between Visit 1 and Visit 5.
Time frame: Visit 1, Visit 5 (Visit 1 = day 1, Visit 5 = 6 months after enrolment)