| E.1 Medical condition or disease under investigation |
| E.1.1 | Medical condition(s) being investigated |
| early pulmonary vascular disease, defined as either a) mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) ≥25 mmHg with pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) ≥2 to <3 WU and pulmonary arterial wedge pressure (PAWP) ≤15 mmHg or b) mPAP 21-<25 mmHg with PVR ≥2 WU, and PAWP ≤15 mmHg associated with connective tissue disease (CTD) or as idiopathic/heritable form. |
|
| E.1.1.1 | Medical condition in easily understood language |
| Early-stage disease impairing the blood flow between the heart and lungs |
|
| E.1.1.2 | Therapeutic area | Diseases [C] - Cardiovascular Diseases [C14] |
| MedDRA Classification |
| E.1.2 Medical condition or disease under investigation |
| E.1.2 | Version | 20.0 |
| E.1.2 | Level | HLT |
| E.1.2 | Classification code | 10037455 |
| E.1.2 | Term | Pulmonary vascular disorders NEC |
| E.1.2 | System Organ Class | 100000004866 |
|
| E.1.3 | Condition being studied is a rare disease | Yes |
| E.2 Objective of the trial |
| E.2.1 | Main objective of the trial |
| To investigate the change pulmonary vascular resistance among patients with early pulmonary vascular disease treated with riociguat (MK-4836) versus placebo for 24 weeks. |
|
| E.2.2 | Secondary objectives of the trial |
- To investigate, the effect of treatment with riociguat (MK-4836) on further hemodynamic and clinical parameters in patients with early pulmonary vascular disease, defined as stated above as change from
baseline to 24 weeks of Treatment.
- To assess safety and tolerability of riociguat (MK-4836) treatment in patients with early pulmonary vascular disease, defined as stated above as change from baseline to 24 weeks of Treatment. |
|
| E.2.3 | Trial contains a sub-study | No |
| E.3 | Principal inclusion criteria |
1. ≥18 years of age at time of inclusion.
2. Male and female patients with early pulmonary vascular disease, defined as either a) mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) ≥25 mmHg with pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) ≥2 to <3 WU and pulmonary arterial wedge pressure (PAWP) ≤15 mmHg or b) mPAP 21-<25 mmHg with PVR ≥2 WU, and PAWP ≤15 mmHg associated with connective tissue disease (CTD) or as idiopathic/heritable form (see Group I / Nice Clinical Classification of Pulmonary Hypertension) (acc. to Simonneau et al. 2019). Patients with rheumatoid arthritis or connective tissue disease of any kind, except systemic lupus erythematosus, may also be included. Patients in group b will be enrolled by majority as long as patients in group a are not defined as having pulmonary arterial hypertension according to European pulmonary hypertension guidelines.
3. Treatment naïve patients (with respect to PAH specific medication)
4. Unspecific treatments which may also be used for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension such as oral anticoagulants, diuretics, digitalis, calcium channel blockers or oxygen supplementation are permitted. Permitted are also treatments of the rheumatologic disease. However, these drugs must have been started at least 1 month before right heart catheterization.
5. Right-heart catheterization results must not be older than 1 month at Visit 1 (will be considered as baseline values, the time frame can be prolonged up to 6 months, if the patient has had no signs of clinical changes as >10% change of 6MWD, WHO FC, > 30% change in NTproBNP) and must have been measured in the participating centre under standardized conditions (refer to the study specific Swan Ganz catheterization manual). If the respective measurements have not been performed in context with the patient’s regular diagnostic work up, they have to be performed as a part of the study during the Pre-Study Phase (after the patient signed the informed consent).
6. Women without childbearing potential defined as postmenopausal women aged 55 years or older, women with bilateral tubal ligation, women with bilateral ovariectomy, and women with hysterectomy can be included in the study. Women of childbearing potential can only be included in the study if all of the following applies (listed below): a. Negative serum pregnancy test at screening and a negative urine pregnancy test at study start (visit 1). b. Agreement to undertake monthly urine pregnancy tests during the study and up to at least 30 days after study treatment discontinuation. These tests should be performed by the patient at home. c. - Agreement to follow the contraception scheme as stated from screening until at least 30 days after study treatment discontinuation.
7. Patients who are able to understand and follow instructions and who are able to participate in the study for the entire period.
8. Patients must have given their written informed consent to participate in the study after having received adequate previous information and prior to any study-specific procedures.
|
|
| E.4 | Principal exclusion criteria |
1. Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
2. Concomitant PAH-targeted treatment is not allowed during the study.
3. Concomitant treatment with phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors, endothelin receptor antagonists and prostacyclin analogues due to digital ulcers is contraindicated and should have a washout-phase of 3 days at the time of right heart catheterization. Intravenous treatment with prostacyclin analogues should not be performed within 1 week of right heart catheterization. Any decision to discontinue above-mentioned drugs will be made by the clinicians and the patient at screening.
4. Pulmonary hypertension explained by other cause including group 2, 3, 4 and 5 PH according to the current guidelines.
5. Cardiac comorbidity, defined with three or more of the following conditions: uncontrolled arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, body mass index >35, left atrial enlargement >20 cm², atrial fibrillation, left ventricular ejection fraction <50%.
6. Pulmonary comorbidity, defined as forced vital capacity (FVC) ≤70; forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) ≤50%; diffusion capacity of the lung (DLCO) ≤40%. FVC may be <70/ if high resolution computed tomography shows <20% lung fibrosis.
7. Patients with a medical disorder, condition, or history of such that would impair the patient's ability to participate or complete this study in the opinion of the investigator.
8. Patients with underlying medical disorders with an anticipated life expectancy below 2 years (e.g. active cancer disease with localized and/or metastasized tumour mass).
9. Patients with a history of severe or multiple drug allergies (defined as allergic reactions to three or more structurally unrelated drugs).
10. Patients with hypersensitivity to the investigational drug or any of the excipients.
11. Contraindications according to summary of product characteristics of riociguat (e.g. arterial hypotension with systolic blood pressure <95 mmHg; nitrates)
12. Participation in any clinical drug trial within 4 weeks prior to screening of this study and/or patient, who is scheduled to receive an investigational medicinal product (IMP) during the course of this study
13. Background therapy with highly anti-fibrotic drugs (pirfenidone ) or nintedanib, prednisolone >10 mg/day or any other PAH specific treatment. |
|
| E.5 End points |
| E.5.1 | Primary end point(s) |
The evaluation of the primary efficacy endpoint will be the change from baseline to 24 weeks in pulmonary vascular resistance. The primary analysis set will be the intention to treat set.
The main comparison will be the difference in treatment effect between riociguat (MK-4836) and placebo. 95% confidence intervals of treatment difference will also be calculated. The primary comparison will be an ANCOVA model including baseline scores as covariate.
If the preconditions for an ANCOVA analysis are not met, the primary endpoint will be analysed by robust, two-sided t-test (Welch-test). |
|
| E.5.1.1 | Timepoint(s) of evaluation of this end point |
• Screening Phase: up to 28 days before treatment start
• Treatment phase: 24 weeks ± 14 days including 8 weeks titration
phase and 16 weeks continuation phase.
• Safety follow-up: patient's well-being will be monitored by phone
after 30 ± 7 days after last intake of study.
• Survival follow-up: survival at study termination / last patient out |
|
| E.5.2 | Secondary end point(s) |
Secondary parameters at baseline and during follow-up will be compared between groups comparing the difference between baseline and follow-up visits. Data will be displayed by means and standard deviations, medians and variances with respective 95% confidence intervals. p-values <0.05 will be considered as statistically significant.
Secondary endpoints will be statistically analysed by a hierarchical testing strategy using the two-sided student’s t-test with comparison of the differences between riociguat (MK-4836) and placebo.
It is assumed that WHO functional class will either remain the same, improve by one or two categories, or deteriorate by one category in most cases. A change score (baseline minus end of study) will be calculated, which could go from -3 (class IV at baseline and class I at end of study) to +4 (class I at baseline, death at end of study), but in practice for those patients still alive at the end of the study it will most likely range from -2 to +1.
The safety analysis will be performed in the population valid for safety. All tabulations will be descriptive only. Tables will be produced for drug-related treatment-emergent adverse events and serious adverse events. Further tables will be produced for serious and/or drug-related treatment-emergent adverse events.
Mortality in the 24-week period of the study will be summarized descriptively. Any deaths in the study period will be listed, with day of death relative to start and stop of study drug and cause of death. |
|
| E.5.2.1 | Timepoint(s) of evaluation of this end point |
Data will be obtained at baseline, after 12 and 24 weeks.
30 days after last study drug intake, a safety follow-up by phone will be
performed.
At study termination, survival will be assessed by phone. |
|
| E.6 and E.7 Scope of the trial |
| E.6 | Scope of the trial |
| E.6.1 | Diagnosis | No |
| E.6.2 | Prophylaxis | No |
| E.6.3 | Therapy | Yes |
| E.6.4 | Safety | Yes |
| E.6.5 | Efficacy | Yes |
| E.6.6 | Pharmacokinetic | No |
| E.6.7 | Pharmacodynamic | No |
| E.6.8 | Bioequivalence | No |
| E.6.9 | Dose response | No |
| E.6.10 | Pharmacogenetic | No |
| E.6.11 | Pharmacogenomic | No |
| E.6.12 | Pharmacoeconomic | No |
| E.6.13 | Others | No |
| E.7 | Trial type and phase |
| E.7.1 | Human pharmacology (Phase I) | No |
| E.7.1.1 | First administration to humans | No |
| E.7.1.2 | Bioequivalence study | No |
| E.7.1.3 | Other | No |
| E.7.1.3.1 | Other trial type description | |
| E.7.2 | Therapeutic exploratory (Phase II) | Yes |
| E.7.3 | Therapeutic confirmatory (Phase III) | No |
| E.7.4 | Therapeutic use (Phase IV) | No |
| E.8 Design of the trial |
| E.8.1 | Controlled | Yes |
| E.8.1.1 | Randomised | Yes |
| E.8.1.2 | Open | No |
| E.8.1.3 | Single blind | No |
| E.8.1.4 | Double blind | Yes |
| E.8.1.5 | Parallel group | No |
| E.8.1.6 | Cross over | No |
| E.8.1.7 | Other | No |
| E.8.2 | Comparator of controlled trial |
| E.8.2.1 | Other medicinal product(s) | No |
| E.8.2.2 | Placebo | Yes |
| E.8.2.3 | Other | No |
| E.8.2.4 | Number of treatment arms in the trial | 2 |
| E.8.3 |
The trial involves single site in the Member State concerned
| No |
| E.8.4 | The trial involves multiple sites in the Member State concerned | Yes |
| E.8.4.1 | Number of sites anticipated in Member State concerned | 3 |
| E.8.5 | The trial involves multiple Member States | Yes |
| E.8.5.1 | Number of sites anticipated in the EEA | 7 |
| E.8.6 Trial involving sites outside the EEA |
| E.8.6.1 | Trial being conducted both within and outside the EEA | Yes |
| E.8.6.2 | Trial being conducted completely outside of the EEA | No |
| E.8.6.3 | If E.8.6.1 or E.8.6.2 are Yes, specify the regions in which trial sites are planned |
| Switzerland |
| United Kingdom |
| Austria |
| France |
| Germany |
| Italy |
| Norway |
|
| E.8.7 | Trial has a data monitoring committee | No |
| E.8.8 |
Definition of the end of the trial and justification where it is not the last
visit of the last subject undergoing the trial
|
| LVLS including Survival follow-up by phone for all patients. |
|
| E.8.9 Initial estimate of the duration of the trial |
| E.8.9.1 | In the Member State concerned years | 4 |
| E.8.9.1 | In the Member State concerned months | 6 |
| E.8.9.1 | In the Member State concerned days | 0 |
| E.8.9.2 | In all countries concerned by the trial years | 4 |
| E.8.9.2 | In all countries concerned by the trial months | 6 |
| E.8.9.2 | In all countries concerned by the trial days | 0 |
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