A phase I trial of humanized anti-interleukin 2 receptor antibody in renal transplantation

The efficacy of murine monoclonal anti-interleukin 2 alpha chain receptor (Tac) antibodies is limited by a short half-life and the development of antibodies to the heterologous protein. The safety, pharmacokinetics-dynamics, and immunosuppressive effect of a humanized anti-Tac antibody (HAT) was evaluated in 12 renal transplant recipients. Ten patients received living related transplants (three HLA-identical matches and seven one-haplotype or zero-haplotype matches) and two patients received cadaver organs. The patients were divided into four HAT treatment arms: 0.5 mg/kg/week (n=4), 1 mg/kg/week (n=2), 0.5 mg/kg every other week (n=3), and 1 mg/kg every other week (n=3). The first dose of HAT was given within 12 hr before transplantation, and four additional doses were given after transplantation. Patients were also placed on cyclosporine, steroids, and azathioprine. Only one patient, a recipient of a cadaver kidney in the lowest HAT treatment arm, had a reversible rejection episode. The 10 recipients of living related transplants were compared with 17 historical controls treated with an identical immunosuppressive regimen except for HAT. Whereas none of the HAT-treated living related donor recipients had a rejection episode, 6 of 17 (41%) of the historical controls had a rejection episode in the first year after transplantation. There were no first-dose reactions after HAT therapy or other subsequent side effects. None of the patients experienced opportunistic infections or malignancies. One patient developed low-titer anti-HAT antibodies, although the patient maintained high serum HAT concentrations throughout the study. Immune monitoring showed that there were no changes in the percentage or absolute counts of CD3 cells or T-cell subsets after HAT therapy. However, there was a significant decrease in the number of circulating lymphocytes that expressed free Tac. The overall harmonic mean half-life of HAT was 273 hr. The results of this study indicate that HAT given at 1 mg/kg every other week for a total of five doses may provide therapeutic HAT concentration levels and result in good saturation of Tac receptors for at least 12 weeks after transplantation. In summary, HAT is safe and is well tolerated by patients. Its long half-life and lack of immunization could make it a very useful immunosuppressive drug.

Use of an indirect pharmacodynamic stimulation model of MX protein induction to compare in vivo activity of interferon alfa-2a and a polyethylene glycol-modified derivative in healthy subjects

Interferon alfa-2a was chemically modified by the covalent attachment of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) moiety to enhance its circulating half-life and to reduce its immunogenicity. A comparative evaluation of the pharmacokinetics of the PEG-modified interferon alfa-2a showed a greater than twofold increase in the circulating half-life as a result of this chemical modification. An indirect physiologic response model was developed to characterize the time course of the MX protein response after subcutaneous administration of single ascending doses of either interferon alfa-2a or PEG-interferon alfa-2a in healthy volunteers. Analysis of the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationship suggested that the PEG-modified interferon alfa-2a could not be administered less than twice weekly and therefore offered little therapeutic advantage over its unmodified counterpart, which is administered three times weekly. These results were consistent with findings in phase II trials. This study substantiates the usefulness of pharmacodynamic modeling as a tool for the development of dose recommendations and for the early selection of drug candidates in the drug development process.

A population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic and logistic regression analysis of lotrafiban in patients

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of lotrafiban, an oral glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor, in patients with a recent myocardial infarction, unstable angina, transient ischemic attack, or stroke.

METHODS

A 12-week, double-blind, multi-center, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, phase II study of lotrafiban (the Anti-platelet Useful Dose Study) was conducted in patients. Lotrafiban or placebo was administered as a twice daily oral dose at four dose levels (5-100 mg) for 12 weeks with daily doses of aspirin (300-325 mg). The pharmacokinetics of lotrafiban were characterized with the use of a population approach and were described by a two-compartment model with first order absorption and first order elimination. The pharmacodynamic data, ex vivo platelet aggregation, were described with the use of a direct effect inhibitory sigmoidal model with a baseline. The relationship between the severity of bleeding episodes and predicted steady-state lotrafiban exposure was characterized by logistic regression.

RESULTS

Pharmacokinetic analysis showed that increasing age and decreasing creatinine clearance resulted in increased exposure to lotrafiban. The concentration-effect relationship was steep, with near complete inhibition of platelet aggregation at lotrafiban concentrations in excess of 20 ng/mL. Logistic regression showed that at exposures that exceeded approximately 835 ng. h/mL, the severity of adverse bleeding events increased considerably; this suggested that dosing recommendations should be generated to minimize the likelihood of patients having an area under the plasma concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 hours in excess of this value.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients whose age exceeded 65 years or whose creatinine clearance was less than 60 mL/min should be given a lower dose of lotrafiban than younger patients with good renal function.

Leveraging Big Data in Pediatric Development Programs: Proceedings From the 2016 American College of Clinical Pharmacology Annual Meeting Symposium

This article discusses the use of big data in pediatric drug development. The article covers key topics discussed at the ACCP annual meeting symposium in 2016 including the extent to which big data or real-world data can inform clinical trial design and substitute for efficacy and safety data typically obtained in clinical trials. The current states of use, opportunities, and challenges with the use of big data in future pediatric drug development are discussed.

Exposure-Response Analysis for Mogamulizumab in Adults With Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma

Mogamulizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against C-C chemokine receptor 4 approved in the United States for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome, the most common forms of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). The exposure-response relationships for efficacy (progression-free survival [PFS] and overall response rate [ORR]) and safety (the 5 most common treatment-related adverse events by Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities [MedDRA] System Organ Class) for 184 patients with CTCL treated with mogamulizumab in a large, registrational clinical trial. Exposure metrics were area under the serum mogamulizumab concentration-time curve over the dose interval at steady state (AUC_ss ) and minimum serum mogamulizumab concentration after the first dose (C_min,1st ). PFS by investigator assessment, the primary efficacy objective, and PFS and ORR by independent review were not correlated with exposure metrics; however, there was a statistically significant positive relationship between a secondary objective, ORR by investigator assessment, and AUC_ss (P = .0168). The frequency of treatment-related adverse events was not related to exposure metrics (C_min,1st or AUC_ss ) for any of the MedDRA System Organ Classes examined. Of the covariates that were found to have a statistically significantly effect on the population PK model (ie, albumin, aspartate aminotransferase, body surface area, mild to moderate hepatic impairment, and sex), none was found to impact efficacy or safety, indicating that there is no need to modify dose on the basis of these parameters.

Analysis of a phase I pharmacokinetic (PK)/food effect study of AT-101 in patients with advanced solid tumors

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Background: AT-101 is an oral, pan-Bcl-2 inhibitor (Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Bcl-W, Mcl-1). Overexpression of Bcl-2 family proteins is common in human cancers. AT-101 activity as a single agent as well as in combination with docetaxel has been reported. The ongoing Phase 1 study of AT-101 as a single agent was expanded to include a cohort of patients to determine the PK of AT-101 in fed and fasted states. Methods: Twelve patients (pts) were enrolled and randomized into cohorts of six pts each. Cohort A received AT-101 (80 mg) orally on day 1 on an empty stomach (fasted) and again on day 8 with a high fat high calorie breakfast (fed), per FDA guidelines. Cohort B received AT-101 on day 1 fed and on day 8 fasted. Preliminary plasma concentration time data for AT-101 from 10 patients administered 80 mg orally were evaluated using noncompartmental analysis. Log transformed peak concentration (Cmax) and exposure (AUC) were compared the between fed and fasted groups with the fasted group as the reference treatment. Results: Preliminary PK results from the first 10 pts are shown in the Table. For AUC and Cmax, the effect of food resulted in an approximately 42% and 5% increase, respectively. However the confidence intervals were not wholly outside the 80–125% intervals. Conclusions: These data indicate that food may increase AT-101 exposure in terms of AUC and Cmax. Updated results from all 12 pts will be presented at the meeting. Based on our preliminary results, it is recommended that AT-101 be taken at least an hour (or more) before or after food.

[Table: see text]

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Inflammation-mediated drug interactions of olokizumab and cytochrome P450 activities in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

AIMS

In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), interleukin (IL)-6 affects the activity of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes. Treatment with anti-IL-6 therapy can reverse the IL-6-mediated downregulation of CYP enzymes, resulting in changes in plasma levels of CYP substrates. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the IL-6 inhibitor olokizumab on the pharmacokinetics of CYP probe substrates in subjects with active RA.

METHODS

Seventeen patients with active RA were orally administered a phenotyping cocktail of midazolam (CYP3A4 substrate), omeprazole (CYP2C19 substrate), warfarin (CYP2C9 substrate) and caffeine (CYP1A2 substrate) alone and 2 weeks after a single subcutaneous injection of 128 mg olokizumab. The pharmacokinetic parameters of each substrate were calculated using noncompartmental analysis.

RESULTS

Sixteen of 17 enrolled patients received the complete doses of the cocktail drugs and olokizumab and were eligible for the pharmacokinetic evaluations. After single-dose administration of olokizumab, the exposure of midazolam and omeprazole decreased by 30-33% and 26-32%, respectively, compared to when the substrates were administered along via cocktail. In the presence of olokizumab, caffeine exposure increased by 19-23% compared to caffeine administration alone. There were no significant changes in S-warfarin exposure.

CONCLUSION

In patients with active RA, olokizumab potentially reverses the IL-6-mediated suppression of CYP3A4 and CYP2C19. According to FDA guidance, olokizumab is considered a weak inducer of CYP3A4 and CYP2C19.

Early Infliximab Clearance Predicts Remission in Children with Crohn's Disease

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Children with Crohn's disease have lower response rates to infliximab, lower infliximab levels, and higher infliximab clearance on weight-based dosing than adults. We hypothesize infliximab clearance is a predictive of later outcomes on infliximab in children with Crohn's disease.

METHODS

In this single-center retrospective study, data were collected from charts on diagnosis, anthropometry, routine labs, infliximab therapeutic drug monitoring, infliximab dosing, disease activity, and other treatments. With these data we generated a population pharmacokinetic model using non-linear mixed effects modeling and calculated infliximab clearance for each patient over time. Patients were classified as in remission, responder-only or non-responder at 5, 10 and 16 months. Regression and ROC analyses were used to assess for early predictors of remission and response to infliximab.

RESULTS

Eighty-five subjects were included, with a median follow-up of 22.3 months (IQR 10.1-36.8). Our pharmacokinetic model showed infliximab clearance was positively associated with CRP and weight, while negatively associated with albumin. In regression analyses, early infliximab clearance was the only significant, consistent predictor of remission. A 0.1 L/day increase in infliximab clearance predicted remission with an OR between 0.179 and 0.426. Differences in dosing did not account for differences in outcome. Infliximab clearance alone had moderate predictive accuracy of remission, with an AUC between 0.682 and 0.738.

CONCLUSIONS

Early infliximab clearance is strongly associated with remission in children with Crohn's disease. It may be useful as a marker of response in proactive therapeutic drug monitoring to guide early dose optimization and/or changes in treatment for betterment of long-term outcomes.