Bone in CKD Alkali Response (BICARb Pilot Trial) (BICARb)

Bone in CKD Alkali Response Pilot Trial (BICARb)

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether potassium citrate improves skeletal health in adults and children with chronic kidney disease. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• To evaluate effects of potassium citrate treatment on bone quality and strength.
• To evaluate mechanism(s) underlying the effects of potassium citrate on skeletal health.

Participants will be asked to:

• provide blood, urine and answer questions about health and diet three times during an 8 months period
• undergo advanced bone imaging with high resolution-peripheral quantitative CT scan twice during 8 months
• take study pills for 4-6 weeks at the beginning of the study to ensure safety
• take either potassium citrate or placebo for 6 months during the blinded portion of the study

Researchers will compare the bone imaging between the potassium citrate and the placebo groups at the end of the study.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Chronic Kidney Diseases; Bone Loss
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Potassium citrate; Drug: Placebo

Detailed Description

Chronic kidney disease is associated with bone loss and fractures in both children and adults, but bone protective therapies that are both proven and safe to use across the life-course in CKD are lacking. In this study, the investigators will conduct a pilot, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 15 children and 88 adults evaluating the skeletal effects of potassium alkali therapy. These data will form the basis for a larger U01 proposal to determine the efficacy of potassium citrate on mitigating the effects of CKD on bone.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 103
• Phase: Phase 2; Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Kimberly Reidy, MD; Phone Number: 718-741-2450; Email: kreidy@montefiore.org

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Bronx, New York, United States, 10461
      • Recruiting
      • Albert Einstein College Of Medicine
      • Contact: Lisandra Villalba; Phone Number: 718-430-3301; Email: lisandra.ninonuevo@einsteinmed.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Kimberly L Reidy, MD
  • Pennsylvania
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213
      • Recruiting
      • University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
      • Contact: Juhi Kumar, MD
      • Principal Investigator: Juhi Kumar, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥ 5 years old
• For children: Estimated eGFR >30 and <90 ml/min/1.73m2 by CKiD U25 (For Pediatric participants) equations
• For adults (≥18 years old): Estimated eGFR >30 and <90 ml/min/1.73m2 by the new CKD-Epi without race (For Adults)
• Females of child-bearing potential must have had a menstrual period in the last month
• For participants < 18 years, the participant and/or parent/guardian capable of providing informed consent and assent (assessed by the provider)
• Proficiency in English or Spanish
• PTH and phosphorus levels within the normal range
• 25-hydroxyvitamin D ≥ 20 ng/mL
• Women of childbearing potential must be willing to use one form of effective contraception over the course of the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Baseline potassium > or = 5.5 mEq/L or prior history of hyperkalemia in the last 6 months (potassium >5.5 mEq/L) or currently taking a potassium lowering agent
• Alkali therapy within the prior 12 months
• Baseline ECG with abnormalities associated with increased risk of arrythmia, excluding left ventricular hypertrophy
• Baseline serum bicarbonate levels <17 or > or = 30 mEq/L
• Serum calcium <8.6 mg/dL, adjusted for serum albumin
• Significant comorbidity causing acid-base imbalance (e.g. active cancer requiring chemotherapy, chronic liver failure, moderate or severe chronic obstructive lung disease, New York Heart Association class 2 or greater congestive heart failure, obstructive sleep apnea requiring nightly continuous positive airway pressure, active glomerular disease requiring immunosuppressive therapy, intestinal malabsorption or celiac disease)
• Plans to relocate out of the area in the next 3 months
• Urine pH > 8 or history of nephrolithiasis
• Lower extremity amputations or non-ambulatory
• Metabolic bone disease not related to CKD (e.g., Paget's disease, primary hyperparathyroidism)
• Endocrinopathy: untreated hyper or hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome
• Medical diseases that can affect therapy (severe myocardial damage, acute dehydration, delayed gastric emptying, esophageal compression, or intestinal obstruction or stricture)
• Use of bisphosphonates, denosumab, teriparatide, abaloparatide, romosozumab, raloxifene, estrogen or testosterone replacement therapy, glucocorticoids within the 12-months prior to enrollment
• Previous bilateral wrist and tibia fractures
• Solid or liquid organ transplant
• On dialysis or with rapidly deteriorating kidney function or expectation for transplantation or initiation of dialysis in less than 3 months
• Pregnancy or breastfeeding
• Prisoners or institutionalized individuals
• Unwillingness to provide informed consent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Potassium Citrate; Potassium Citrate extended-release tablets 30 mEq twice daily (1 mEq/kg/day divided into two doses for children to a maximum dose of 30 mEq twice daily).	Drug: Potassium citrate; Oral potassium citrate
Placebo Comparator: Placebo; Placebo capsules identical to the active capsules.	Drug: Placebo; Placebo capsule identical to active ingredient

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Total volumetric bone mineral density (BMD)	Change in total volumetric bone mineral density (BMD) by high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT).	6 months
24 hour net Urine Acid Excretion (NAE)	Change of urine acid excretion in 24-hour net Urine Acid Excretion (NAE)	6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in parathyroid hormone	Change from baseline to 6 months in median parathyroid hormone levels	6 months

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Correlation of serum bicarbonate and urine NAE	Correlation coefficient will be determined between serum bicarbonate and urine net acid excretion. The correlation coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, with 0 being no correlation and 1 being perfect correlation.	6 months
Correlation of serum bicarbonate and bone quality	Correlation coefficient will be determined between serum bicarbonate and bone quality. The correlation coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, with 0 being no correlation and 1 being perfect correlation.	6 months
Correlation between urine net acid excretion and bone quality	Correlation coefficient will be determined between urine net acid excretion and bone quality. The correlation coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, with 0 being no correlation and 1 being perfect correlation.	6 months
Changes in bone alkaline phosphatase	Changes in bone alkaline phosphatase will be compared between the groups. Bone alkaline phosphatase is measured in IU/L. Higher values are indicative of higher bone turnover.	6 months
Changes in TRAP5b	Changes in TRAP5b compared between the groups. TRAP5b are measured in mIU/mL.	6 months
Changes in bone quality	Bone quality as measured by high resolution peripheral quantitative CT will be compared between groups	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Collaborators: Columbia University; University of Utah; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Kimberly Reidy, MD, Albert Einstein College Of Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): March 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 2, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): June 26, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 1, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 31, 2024
• Last Verified: January 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Chronic Kidney Disease; Pediatrics; Fractures; Metabolic acidosis; Bone strength
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Urologic Diseases; Disease Attributes; Renal Insufficiency; Chronic Disease; Female Urogenital Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Urogenital Diseases; Male Urogenital Diseases; Kidney Diseases; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Natriuretic Agents; Diuretics; Respiratory System Agents; Expectorants; Potassium Citrate
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2023-14826

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

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