Post Bariatric Closed Loop Glucagon Trial

Closed-Loop Glucagon Administration For The Automated Treatment Of Post-Bariatric Hypoglycemia

This study is to test our automated hypoglycemia prevention and treatment device (glucagon-only bionic pancreas) in subjects that have undergone post-bariatric surgery that are experiencing symptoms of hypoglycemia.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hypoglycemia
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Glucagon-only bionic pancreas - glucagon; Device: Glucagon-only bionic pancreas - placebo

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 10
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
      • Massachusetts General Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 21 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 21 years or older with a gastric bypass for more than 1 year.
• Post-bariatric hypoglycemia with prior episodes of neuroglycopenia, unresponsive to dietary intervention (low glycemic index, controlled carbohydrate portions) and trial of acarbose therapy at the maximally tolerated dose. Other therapies will not exclude a subject as long as the therapy is continued during the study.
• Otherwise healthy (mild chronic disease such as asthma, hypertension, and depression will be allowed if well controlled).
• Self-reported frequency of documented hypoglycemia (BG < 60 mg/dl verified by capillary blood glucose measurements) of at least 2 times per week.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to provide informed consent.
• Unable to comply with study procedures.
• Current participation in another hypoglycemia related clinical trial other than one that is primarily observational in nature.
• Pregnancy (positive urine HCG), breast feeding, plan to become pregnant in the immediate future, or sexually active without use of contraception.
• Use of insulin and/or insulin secretogues as sulfonylurea, metglitides, and glitazones.
• History of cystic fibrosis, pancreatitis, type 1 diabetes or other pancreatic disease.
• End stage renal disease on dialysis (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis).
• Any known liver or biliary disease including cirrhosis, alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, any form of viral hepatitis.
• Congestive heart failure (established history of CHF, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, or orthopnea).
• Acute illness or exacerbation of chronic illness at the time of the study.
• Known insulinoma or predominantly fasting pattern of hypoglycemia
• Adrenal insufficiency. Congenital hyperinsulinemia presenting with hypoglycemia during infancy.
• History of pheochromocytoma. Fractionated metanephrines will be tested in patients with history increasing the risk for a catecholamine secreting tumor:
• Paroxysms of tachycardia, pallor, or headache.
• Personal or family history of MEN 2A, MEN 2B, neurofibromatosis, or von Hippel-Lindau disease.
• Episodic or treatment refractory (requiring 4 or more medications to achieve normotension) hypertension.
• Untreated or inadequately treated mental illness (indicators would include symptoms such as psychosis, hallucinations, mania, and/or any psychiatric hospitalization in the last year).
• Current alcohol abuse (intake averaging > 3 drinks daily in last 30 days) or substance abuse (any use within the last 6 months of controlled substances without a prescription).
• Unwilling or unable to refrain from drinking more than two drinks in an hour or more than four drinks in a day during the trial.
• Electrically powered implants (e.g. cochlear implants, neurostimulators) that might be susceptible to RF interference.
• History of adverse reaction to glucagon (including allergy) besides nausea and vomiting.
• Unwilling or unable to completely avoid acetaminophen during the study period.
• Any factors that, in the opinion of the principal investigator, would interfere with the safe completion of the study procedures.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: CROSSOVER
• Masking: QUADRUPLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Glucagon-only bionic pancreas - glucagon; Subjects will wear the bionic pancreas that consists of a continuous glucose monitor linked to a smartphone running a hypoglycemia prevention algorithm that doses glucagon from an insulin pump through a subcutaneous infusion set. Subjects will continue to manage any hypoglycemia that occurs according to the current recommendations of their care provider.	Device: Glucagon-only bionic pancreas - glucagon; A computer algorithm will automatically deliver glucagon based on the signal from a minimally invasive continuous glucose monitor.
PLACEBO_COMPARATOR: Glucagon-only bionic pancreas - placebo; Subjects will wear the bionic pancreas that consists of a continuous glucose monitor linked to a smartphone running a hypoglycemia prevention algorithm that doses placebo from an insulin pump through a subcutaneous infusion set. Subjects will continue to manage any hypoglycemia that occurs according to the current recommendations of their care provider.	Device: Glucagon-only bionic pancreas - placebo; A computer algorithm will automatically deliver placebo based on the signal from a minimally invasive continuous glucose monitor.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Area Over the Curve and <60 mg/dl (CGM) Measured in mg/dl *Min	The measure for area over the curve is used when an integrated assessment (e.g., a measurement of something over a specific amount of time) is more useful in understanding a phenomenon. To calculate this measure, a method of approximation is often used. One way would be to estimate the curve via curve-fitting techniques. For this outcome, using area over the curve and <60mg/dl provides a more robust method of calculating amount of hypoglycemia (by including more severe degrees of hypoglycemia in the product of mg/dl*min as opposed to percentage of time below 60mg/dl.	14 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mean Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) Glucose		2 weeks
Percentage of Time With CGM Glucose Less Than 60 mg/dl Overnight (11:00 PM - 7:00 AM)		14 days
Percentage of Time With CGM Glucose Less Than 60 mg/dl During Daytime ( 7:00 AM-11:00 PM)		14 days
Percentage of Time Spent Within the Glucose Range 70-120 mg/dl		14 days
Percentage of Time Spent Within the Glucose Range 70-180 mg/dl		14 days
Percentage of Time Spent Within the Glucose Range >180 mg/dl		14 days
Fraction of Time Spent Within the Glucose Range >250 mg/dl		2 weeks
Mean Absolute Relative Deviation (MARD) of CGM vs. All StatStrip Xpress BG Measurements	MARD is computed using the difference between the CGM readings and the values measured at the same time by the reference measurement system. The mean (or average) of all the absolute relative deviations produces the MARD. In this study, the reference measurement system was the StatStrip Xpress meter, to which the CGM values were compared.	14 days
Number of Carbohydrate Interventions for Hypoglycemia Per Day	Number of carbohydrate interventions for hypoglycemia per day calculated from daily email survey	14 days
Total Number of Grams of Carbohydrate Taken for Hypoglycemia Per Day	Calculated from daily email survey	14 days
Total Glucagon Dosing (mcg/kg/24 Hours)		2 weeks
Number of Symptomatic Hypoglycemia Events Per Day	Number of symptomatic hypoglycemia events per day calculated from daily email survey	14 days
Percentage of Days When Participants Correctly Guessed Intervention (Glucagon vs Placebo) Out of a Total of 14 Days.		2 weeks
Number of Days With Nausea	Number of days with nausea calculated from daily survey	14 days
Severity of Nausea on Daily E-mail Survey	The visual analog scale (VAS) is a psychometric response scale which can be used in questionnaires. We used a simple VAS is a straight horizontal line of fixed length measuring 0-100mm with subscale markings every 10mm. The ends are defined as the extreme limits of the parameter to be measured (nausea) orientated from the left (least severity or 0) to the right (most severity or 100mm). Subjects can mark their response anywhere from 0 to 100mm. The mean severity of nausea for the group in each arm was calculated by averaging all responses in either arm.	14 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
• Collaborators: Joslin Diabetes Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Steven J Russell, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Publications and helpful links

Helpful Links

• Information about this and related studies

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): September 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): December 1, 2017
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): December 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 10, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 14, 2016
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): November 17, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): December 13, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 26, 2018
• Last Verified: November 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: hypoglycemia; bariatric surgery; glucagon; artificial pancreas; bionic pancreas; continuous glucose monitorering (CGM); post-bariatric hypoglycemia
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Metabolic Diseases; Hypoglycemia; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Gastrointestinal Agents; Hormones; Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists; Incretins; Glucagon; Pancrelipase; Pancreatin; Glucagon-Like Peptide 1
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2016P000710

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: Yes