Carvedilol PAH A Pilot Study of Efficacy and Safety

Beta Blockers in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) A Pilot Study of Efficacy and Safety

Estimate the effect of chronic beta-adrenergic receptor blockade with carvedilol on RV function in patients with PAH.

Assess the safety and tolerability of chronic carvedilol therapy in patients with PAH

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Pulmonary Hypertension; Cardiac MRI <40
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Carvedilol

Detailed Description

This is a prospective, open label, uncontrolled, pilot study examining the safety and efficacy of beta-blocker therapy with carvedilol on RV function in stable PAH Patients with World Health Organization (WHO) functional class II or III symptoms and RV ejection fraction (EF) < 40%. Twenty-five evaluable patients will be enrolled at the University of Minnesota.

Specific Aims:

1.1 Primary Efficacy Endpoint: Adult males and females on a stable dose of an approved PAH medication will undergo cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), right heart catheterization (RHC), echocardiogram, 6-minute walk test (6-MWT), measurement of plasma NT-ProBNP and serum catecholamine, and quality of life assessment. Patients will receive carvedilol (3.25 mg/kg bid escalating to 25 mg/kg bid over 3 months). Testing is repeated at the end of the study (month 6). RVEF measured by cardiac MRI is the primary efficacy endpoint. We define a 5% increase in RVEF as a meaningful change.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 5
• Phase: Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Minnesota
    • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55414
      • University of Minnesota

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 99 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Subjects will be eligible to participate in the study if all of the following conditions exist:
2. Age > 18 years
3. WHO category 1 pulmonary arterial hypertension (Dana Point 2008)
4. WHO functional class II-III
5. RVEF by cardiac MRI < 40%
6. Mean pulmonary artery pressure > 40 mm Hg
7. Stable on PAH-specific therapy as defined by no change in PAH-specific treatment and functional class in the past 3 months. Patient can be on either mono or combination PAH-specific therapy

Exclusion Criteria:

• 1. Subjects will be excluded from participation in the study if any of the following conditions exist: 2. Significant persistent bradycardia (resting heart rate < 60 bpm) without a permanent pacemaker 3. Second or third degree AV block without a permanent pacemaker 4. Significant sinus tachycardia (resting heart rate > 100 bpm) 5. Use of anti-arrhythmic drugs 6. Hypotension defined as systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg at the time of enrollment 7. Significant illness in the past 30 days requiring hospitalization 8. Acute decompensated right heart failure within past 30 days 9. Known allergy or intolerance to carvedilol or other β blockers 10. Cardiac index < 2 l/min/m2 or right atrial pressure > 15 mm Hg 11. Asthma

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Carvedilol; Carvedilol 0-3.125 mg daily Escalating to 6.25 twice a day	Drug: Carvedilol

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mean change in RVEF	1. The primary efficacy outcome is the mean change in RVEF as measured by cardiac MRI before and after 6 months of carvedilol treatment. An improvement of 5% will be considered to be clinically significant. Assessment of the RV is challenging due to its complex geometry. Cardiac MRI offers the ability to acquire 3-dimensional datasets that do not require geometric modeling. In addition to being highly reproducible40, RVEF measured by cardiac MRI can be used to identify PAH patients that are likely to have clinical worsening41. The prognostic ability of cardiac MRI-measurements of RVEF is similar to that as mean pulmonary artery pressure and exercise capacity	Baseline and 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Absence of Adverse Events	The primary safety outcome is the absence of adverse events associated with carvedilol including hypotension (<90 mm Hg), bradycardia (<50 bpm or advanced atrioventricular nodal block), bronchospam, or acute decompensated right heart failure requiring hospitalization.	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Minnesota
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Thenappan Thenappan, MD, University of Minnesota

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Thenappan T, Weir EK, Prins KW, Pritzker MR, Archer SL. Carvedilol for Treatment of Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. J Am Heart Assoc. 2021 Jul 20;10(14):e021518. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.121.021518. Epub 2021 Jul 14.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: May 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 17, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 17, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): April 22, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 12, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 10, 2019
• Last Verified: July 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Hypertension; PAH
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Cardiovascular Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Lung Diseases; Hypertension; Hypertension, Pulmonary; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; Adrenergic Antagonists; Adrenergic Agents; Neurotransmitter Agents; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Antihypertensive Agents; Vasodilator Agents; Protective Agents; Membrane Transport Modulators; Calcium-Regulating Hormones and Agents; Calcium Channel Blockers; Antioxidants; Adrenergic alpha-1 Receptor Antagonists; Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists; Carvedilol
• Other Study ID Numbers: PAH

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No