PCSK9 Inhibition in Patients With Symptomatic Intracranial Atherosclerosis (PINNACLE)

April 18, 2020 updated by: Adam de Havenon, University of Utah
This will be a randomized double blind placebo-controlled pilot study using a repeated measures design in which participants with acute ischemic stroke and intracranial atherosclerotic disease are randomized to either drug or placebo.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study will be a dataset that lays the foundation for a randomized controlled trial of PCSK9 inhibition in intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) patients, designed to show a reduction in the primary endpoint of ischemic stroke recurrence. Such a trial would provide evidence for the utility of alirocumab to prevent recurrent stroke in ICAD. While we are proposing future studies to reduce recurrent ICAD stroke risk, it should be noted that, in the long term, our research may lead to effective primary ICAD stroke risk reduction through PCSK9 inhibition in patients at high risk of stroke identified through asymptomatic stenosis, post-contrast plaque enhancement (PPE) or intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) on vwMRI.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Early Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84132
        • University of Utah

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult patients, ≥ 18 years of age
  • Ischemic stroke (≤ 1 month from onset) in one major vascular territory on diffusion-weighted MRI
  • ICAD plaque of a "major intracranial artery," causing >25% and <99% stenosis
  • Eligible arteries: vertebral (V4), basilar, PCA (P1, P2), MCA (M1, M2), terminal ICA, and ACA (A1)
  • Able to tolerate high-dose statin (atorvastatin 40-80 mg)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Stroke mechanism other than ICAD, including history of atrial fibrillation, hypercoagulability, ipsilateral arterial dissection or carotid stenosis >50%, and rare causes of stroke such as vasculitis or CADASIL
  • Bihemispheric stroke or simultaneous stroke in the anterior and posterior circulation
  • Positive pregnancy test
  • Gadolinium or PCSK9 inhibitor allergy
  • Acute or chronic kidney disease with eGFR<30 ml/min/1.73m2
  • Pacemaker or other MRI contraindications per American College of Radiology guidelines33
  • Inability to return for 1-year follow-up clinic visit and vwMRI

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Placebo Comparator
After review of eligibility criteria, 20 patients will be randomized to the placebo arm of the study where patient will administer one subcutaneous injection of placebo every two weeks for a total of 52 weeks. Additionally, per standard-of-care, patient will also be treated with atorvastatin 40-80 mg.
Drug: Placebo
Placebo to be administered subcutaneously every 2 weeks identical to active drug (alirocumab)
Active Comparator: Active Comparator
After review of eligibility criteria, 20 patients will be randomized to receive the investigational treatment of alirocumab 150mg which will be administered subcutaneously with a single-dose pre-filled pen syringe every 2 weeks for a total of 52 weeks. Additionally, per standard-of-care, patient will also be treated with atorvastatin 40-80 mg
Drug: Alirocumab
Alirocumab is approved by the FDA as a secondary treatment for high cholesterol for adults whose cholesterol can not be controlled by diet and/or statin treatment. Additionally, Alirocumab works to inhibit the PCSK9 protein.
Other Names:
  • Praluent

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Vessel Wall MRI
Time Frame: Day 1 and Day 365
Our primary outcome measures will be to assess the Vessel Wall MRI on Day 365 and compare it to day 1.The primary endpoint is nominal change in the composite percent atheroma volume (PAV) of the stroke parent artery and additional intra- or extracranial cerebrovasculature arteries with atherosclerosis (≥ 25% stenosis) from baseline to week 52. We will use measure PAV on vessel wall MRI (vwMRI), which evaluates all arteries from the aortic arch to the distal intracranial vasculature in a single scan. The primary endpoint will be analyzed for both: 1) the composite PAV of the stroke parent artery and any additional intra- or extracranial arteries that have at least 25% stenosis, and 2) separately for the PAV of the stroke parent artery. The PAV measurements will be performed using the validated MRI-PlaqueView software. Stenosis of the stroke parent artery and all additional arteries included in the composite PAV will be measured using standard methodology and also be evaluated as
Day 1 and Day 365

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Post-Contrast Plaque Enhancement
Time Frame: Day 1
Secondary endpoint 1 is post-contrast plaque enhancement for intracranial arteries and intraplaque hemorrhage for the carotid artery, which are determined by two experienced neuroradiologist raters. If there is disagreement, then a third rater serves as a tie-breaker. The signal intensity characteristics of both endpoints have been standardized in prior literature.
Day 1

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Mechanism of Alirocumab's effect
Time Frame: Day 1 and Day 365
To better understand the mechanism of alirocumab's effect on intra- and extracranial atherosclerosis, we will measure the endpoint of change in cholesterol markers [LDL-C, HDL-C, lipoprotein (a), apolipoprotein B, and triglyceride level]. The change in cholesterol markers will be correlated with the primary and secondary study endpoints on vwMRI. Cholesterol values will be measured at the baseline and comparison MRIs, which are 52 weeks apart. An additional exploratory outcome that we will measure is the composite endpoint of "recurrent stroke," which encompasses new symptomatic ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attack, or asymptomatic strokes that emerge between the study MRIs.
Day 1 and Day 365
Lab Assessment
Time Frame: Baseline visit and Day 365
At both study MRIs, the study coordinator will collect two blood samples. One sample will be tested with an i-STAT for beta hCG and creatinine levels prior to the MRI. The second sample which will be sent to ARUP Laboratories for testing of LDL-C, HDL-C, triglycerides, apolipoprotein B, and lipoprotein (a), biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk.
Baseline visit and Day 365
Clinical Outcomes
Time Frame: Baseline and Day 365
b) At both study visits (baseline vwMRI and follow-up vwMRI), a vascular neurologist blinded to treatment arm assignment will assess patients and their medical records for recurrent stroke. The neurologist will also have access to the "stroke characteristics" data from the neuroradiologist raters. The endpoint of recurrent stroke is defined both for the stroke parent artery and other arterial distributions in the cerebrovasculature.
Baseline and Day 365

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Utah

Collaborators

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Adam de Havenon, MD, University of Utah
  • Principal Investigator: Scott McNally, MD, PhD, University of Utah

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 30, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 17, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

April 17, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 13, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 13, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

April 25, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 21, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 18, 2020

Last Verified

April 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 00104839

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

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

Yes

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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