A Clinical Study of to Confirm the Doses of Selexipag in Children With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

A Prospective, Multicenter, Open Label, Single Arm, Phase 2 Study to Investigate the Safety, Tolerability and Pharmacokinetics of Selexipag in Children With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

The purpose of this study to confirm the selexipag starting dose(s), selected based on pharmacokinetic (PK) extrapolation from adults, that leads to similar exposure as adults doses in children from greater than or equal to (>=) 2 to less than (˂) 18 years of age with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), by investigating the PK of selexipag and its active metabolite ACT-333679 in this population.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: selexipag (Uptravi)

Detailed Description

The selection of the starting dose for pediatric participants is based on the PK extrapolation from adults, taking into account the children body weight category, in order to lead to an exposure similar to that in adult PAH participants at a starting dose of 200 micrograms (mcg). As in adults, selexipag will be up-titrated to the individual maximum tolerated dose (iMTD) during the first 12 weeks. Approximately 60 participants will be enrolled in 3 different age cohorts to obtain at least 45 participants with evaluable PK profiles: Cohort 1: >= 12 to < 18 years of age, Cohort 2: >= 6 to < 12 years of age, Cohort 3: >= 2 to < 6 years of age. In each age cohort the starting dose will depend on the body weight. Enrollment will start with both Cohort 1 and Cohort 2. After completion of PK assessments in at least 15 participants from Cohort 1 at Week 12, a first interim analysis will be conducted to establish the dose-exposure relationship using a population PK model. The PK data from any participants in Cohort 2 who have completed their PK assessments at this time will be included in this first interim analysis. Results of this model-based analysis will be used to confirm or adjust the selexipag doses initially selected. Enrollment of Cohort 3 (children >= 2 to < 6 years of age) will start once the appropriate doses have been confirmed in a second interim analysis of PK data from Cohorts 1 and 2, and if there is no safety concern based on review by an Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 63
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Belarus
  • Minsk, Belarus, 220013
    • State Institution Republican Scientific And Practical Center For Pediatric Surgery
  • Minsk, Belarus, 220118
    • Health Institution 4Th City Children'S Clinical Hospital
• Belgium
  • Ghent, Belgium, 9000
    • UZ Gent
• Canada
  • Quebec
    • Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3T 1C4
      • Centre Hospitalier Sainte Justine
• China
  • Beijing, China, 100029
    • Beijing Anzhen Hospital
  • Shanghai, China, 200127
    • Shanghai Childrens Medical Center
• France
  • Montpellier, France, 34295
    • CHU Arnaud de Villeneuve
  • Paris, France, 75015
    • Hôpital Necker - Enfants Malades
  • Toulouse, France, 31059
    • Chu Hopital Des Enfants
• Germany
  • Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, 70106
    • Universitätsklinikum Freiburg Zentrum
• Hungary
  • Budapest, Hungary, 1096
    • Gottsegen Gyorgy Orszagos Kardiologiai Intezet, Felnott kardiologiai osztaly
• Israel
  • Petach Tikvah, Israel
    • Schneider Children's Medical Center
  • Ramat Gan, Israel, 52621
    • Sheba Medical Center
• Malaysia
  • Kota Samarahan, Malaysia, 94300
    • Sarawak Heart Center
  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 50400
    • Institut Jantung Negara (National Heart Institute)
• Poland
  • Wroclaw, Poland, 51 124
    • Wojewodzki Szpital Specjalistyczny we Wroclawiu
• Russia
  • Kazan', Russia, 420059
    • Kazan State Medical University
  • Kemerovo, Russia, 650002
    • Scientific and Research Institution of Cardiovascular Diseases Complex Problems
  • Moscow, Russia, 125412
    • Moscow Scientific Research Institute For Pediatrics And Childrens Surgery Of Rosmedtechnologies
  • Saint Petersburg, Russia, 194100
    • Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University
  • Saint Petersburg, Russia, 197341
    • Almazov National Medical Research Center Of The Ministry Of Health Of The Russian Federation
  • Samara, Russia, 443070
    • Samara Regional Clinical Cardiological Dispensary
• Serbia
  • Belgrade, Serbia, 11000
    • Univerzitetska Dečja Klinika
  • Belgrade, Serbia, 11070
    • Institut Za Zdravstvenu Zastitu Majke I Deteta Srbije Dr Vukan Cupic
• Taiwan
  • Tainan, Taiwan, 704
    • National Cheng Kung University Hospital
  • Taipei, Taiwan, 100
    • National Taiwan University Hospital
• Ukraine
  • Dnipro, Ukraine, 49070
    • Municipal Enterprise Of The Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council
  • Kiev, Ukraine, 04050
    • State Institution Of The Ministry Of Health Of Ukraine
  • Lviv, Ukraine, 79010
    • Lviv Regional Clinical Hospital
  • Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, 69063
    • Municipal Institution Of The Zaporizhzhya Regional Council
• United Kingdom
  • London, United Kingdom, WC1N 3JH
    • Great Ormond Street Hospital
• United States
  • Colorado
    • Aurora, Colorado, United States, 80045
      • Children'S Hospital Cardiac Care Center University Of Colorado
  • Iowa
    • Iowa City, Iowa, United States, 52242
      • University of Iowa Hospital
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98105
      • Seattle Children's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Signed and dated informed consent by the parent(s) or Legally authorized representative(s) AND assent from developmentally capable children
• Males or females between greater than or equal to (>=) 2 and less than (<) 18 years of age with weight >= 9 kilograms (kg)
• Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) diagnosis confirmed by documented historical right heart catheterization (RHC) performed at any time before participant's enrollment

• PAH with one of the following etiologies:

  • idiopathic (iPAH),
  • heritable (hPAH),
  • associated with congenital heart disease (CHD): PAH with co-incidental CHD; post-operative PAH (persisting/ recurring/ developing >= 6 months after repair of CHD)
  • Drug or toxin-induced
  • PAH associated with HIV
  • PAH associated with connective tissue disease
• Word Health Organization functional class (WHO FC) II to III
• Participants treated with an endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA) and/or a phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor provided that the treatment dose(s) has been stable for at least 3 months prior to enrollment, or participants who are not candidates for these therapies
• Females of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test at Screening and at Enrollment, and must agree to undertake monthly pregnancy tests, and to use a reliable method of contraception (if sexually active) from screening up to study drug discontinuation plus 30 days (EOS)

Key Exclusion Criteria:

• Participants with PAH due to portal hypertension, schistosomiasis, pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD) and/or pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis
• Participants with PAH associated with Eisenmenger syndrome
• Participants with moderate to large left-to-right shunts
• Participants with cyanotic congenital cardiac lesions such as transposition of the great arteries, truncus arteriosus, univentricular heart or pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect, as well as Participants with Fontan-palliation
• Participants with pulmonary hypertension due to lung disease
• Previous treatment with Uptravi (selexipag) within 2 weeks prior to enrollment
• Participants having received prostacyclin (epoprostenol) or prostacyclin analogs (that is, treprostinil, iloprost, beraprost) within 2 months prior to enrollment or are scheduled to receive any of these compounds during the trial
• Treatment with another investigational drug within 4 weeks prior to enrollment
• History, or current suspicion of intussusception or ileus or gastrointestinal obstruction as per investigator's judgment
• Uncontrolled thyroid disease as per investigator judgment
• Hemoglobin or hematocrit < 75 percentage (%) of the lower limit of normal range
• Known severe or moderate hepatic impairment
• Clinical signs of hypotension that in the investigator's judgment would preclude initiation of a PAH-specific therapy
• Participants with severe renal insufficiency
• Known hypersensitivity to the investigational treatment or to any of the excipients of the drug formulations

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• 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: open label selexipag; The first dose of selexipag (Uptravi) will be administered in the evening of Day 1 and will be based on the body weight. Thereafter selexipag will be administered twice daily (morning and evening). Selexipag will be up-titrated during the first 12 weeks, with weekly increments equal to the starting dose until the participants reach their individual maximum tolerated dose (iMTD) or until a maximum dose corresponding to their baseline weight category is achieved (which will be 8-fold of the corresponding starting dose). Up-titration is followed by a stable maintenance treatment period from Week 12 to Week 16, at the maximum tolerated dose. Thereafter, participants will be treated with selexipag as long as the treatment is beneficial to the participants, as per investigator's decision.

Drug: selexipag (Uptravi); Film-coated tablets for oral administration; Other Names: JNJ-67896049; ACT-293987

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Area Under the Plasma Concentration-time Curve Over a Dose Interval at Steady State of Selexipag and Its Metabolite ACT-333679 Combined (AUCτ, ss, Combined)	AUCτ, ss, combined was defined as the area under the plasma concentration-time curve over one dosing interval at steady state. AUCτ,ss,combined was calculated as 1/38 AUCτ,ss,selexipag plus 37/38 AUCτ,ss,ACT-333679.	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Area Under the Plasma Concentration-time Curve Over a Dose Interval of Selexipag at Steady State (AUCτ,ss)	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)
Area Under the Plasma Concentration-Time Curve Over a Dose Interval of ACT-333679 at Steady State (AUCτ,ss)	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)
Maximum Observed Plasma Concentration of Selexipag at Steady State (Cmax,ss)	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)
Maximum Observed Plasma Concentration of ACT-333679 at Steady State (Cmax,ss)	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)
Time to Reach the Maximum Observed Plasma Concentration of Selexipag at Steady State (Tmax,ss)	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)
Time to Reach the Maximum Observed Plasma Concentration of ACT-333679 at Steady State (Tmax,ss)	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)
Trough Concentration of Selexipag at Steady State (Ctrough,ss)	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)
Trough Concentration of ACT-333679 at Steady State (Ctrough,ss)	Week 1,Week 12: pre-dose, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 h post-morning dose. Week 2, 4 and 6: pre-dose (Up to Week 12)
Number of Participants With Treatment-emergent Adverse Events (TEAEs) (End of Treatment [EOT] + 3 Days)	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Number of Participants With Treatment-emergent Serious Adverse Events (TESAEs) (EOT + 3 Days)	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Number of Participants With Adverse Events (AEs) Leading to Permanent Discontinuation of Study Drug	Up to 7 years
Number of Participants With Treatment-emergent Deaths (EOT + 3 Days)	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Number of Participants With Treatment-emergent Marked Laboratory Abnormalities (EOT + 3 Days)	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Change From Baseline in Hematology Parameters (EOT + 3 Days)	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Change From Baseline in Chemistry Parameters (EOT + 3 Days)	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Number of Participants With Treatment-emergent Electrocardiogram (ECG) Abnormalities (EOT + 3 Days)	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Change From Baseline in Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) up to EOT + 3 Days	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Change From Baseline in Blood Pressure	Up to 7 years
Change From Baseline in Heart Rate	Up to 7 years
Change From Baseline Over Time in Height up to EOT+3 Days	EOT+3 days (Up to Week 17)
Change From Baseline Over Time in Body Mass Index (BMI) up to EOT + 3 Days	EOT+ 3 days (Up to Week 17)
Change From Baseline in Sexual Maturation (Tanner Stage) up to End of Treatment (EOT + 3 Days)	EOT+ 3 days (Up to Week 17)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Actelion
• Investigators: Study Director: Catherine Boisson, Actelion

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Beghetti M, Axelsen LN, Borissoff JI, Farhan M, Grill S, Leng S, Russu A, Lesage C, Remenova T, Hsu Schmitz SF, Moledina S. A Prospective, Multicenter, Open-Label, Single-Arm Phase 2 Study to Investigate the Pharmacokinetics, Safety, Tolerability, and Exploratory Efficacy of Selexipag in Children With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Chest. 2025 Dec 20:S0012-3692(25)05947-1. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2025.12.013. Online ahead of print.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 23, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 28, 2022
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 3, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 3, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): April 10, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 8, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 7, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pediatric
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Respiratory Tract Diseases; Lung Diseases; Hypertension, Pulmonary; Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension; Antihypertensive Agents; selexipag
• Other Study ID Numbers: AC-065A203 (Other Identifier: Janssen Research & Development, LLC); 2022-503042-42-00 (Registry Identifier: EUCT number)

Drug and device information, study documents

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