Importance Excess aldosterone production contributes to hypertension in both classical hyperaldosteronism and obesity-associated hypertension. Therapies that reduce aldosterone synthesis may lower blood pressure. Objective To compare the safety and efficacy of lorundrostat, an aldosterone synthase inhibitor, with placebo, and characterize dose-dependent safety and efficacy to inform dose selection in future trials. Design, Setting, and Participants Randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging trial among adults with uncontrolled hypertension taking 2 or more antihypertensive medications. An initial cohort of 163 participants with suppressed plasma renin (plasma renin activity [PRA] ≤1.0 ng/mL/h) and elevated plasma aldosterone (≥1.0 ng/dL) were enrolled, with subsequent enrollment of 37 participants with PRA greater than 1.0 ng/mL/h. Interventions Participants were randomized to placebo or 1 of 5 dosages of lorundrostat in the initial cohort (12.5 mg, 50 mg, or 100 mg once daily or 12.5 mg or 25 mg twice daily). In the second cohort, participants were randomized in a 1:6 ratio to placebo or lorundrostat, 100 mg once daily. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary end point was change in automated office systolic blood pressure from baseline to study week 8. Results Between July 2021 and June 2022, 200 participants were randomized, with final follow-up in September 2022. Following 8 weeks of treatment in participants with suppressed PRA, changes in office systolic blood pressure of −14.1, −13.2, −6.9, and −4.1 mm Hg were observed with 100 mg, 50 mg, and 12.5 mg once daily of lorundrostat and placebo, respectively. Observed reductions in systolic blood pressure in individuals receiving twice-daily doses of 25 mg and 12.5 mg of lorundrostat were −10.1 and −13.8 mm Hg, respectively. The least-squares mean difference between placebo and treatment in systolic blood pressure was −9.6 mm Hg (90% CI, −15.8 to −3.4 mm Hg; P = .01) for the 50-mg once-daily dose and −7.8 mm Hg (90% CI, −14.1 to −1.5 mm Hg; P = .04) for 100 mg daily. Among participants without suppressed PRA, 100 mg once daily of lorundrostat decreased systolic blood pressure by 11.4 mm Hg (SD, 2.5 mm Hg), which was similar to blood pressure reduction among participants with suppressed PRA receiving the same dose. Six participants had increases in serum potassium above 6.0 mmol/L that corrected with dose reduction or drug discontinuation. No instances of cortisol insufficiency occurred. Conclusions and Relevance Among individuals with uncontrolled hypertension, use of lorundrostat was effective at lowering blood pressure compared with placebo, which will require further confirmatory studies. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05001945

Background: Angiopoietin-like protein 3 (ANGPTL3) regulates triglyceride (TG) and lipoprotein (LP) metabolism by inhibiting liver and endothelial LP lipases and reduces plasma LDL-C. In Phase 1 Study AROANG1001 (NCT03747224), single and multiple doses of RNA interference therapeutic ARO-ANG3 (100, 200, or 300 mg; n=36) in healthy volunteers substantially reduced ANGPTL3, LDL-C, and other LPs (AHA 2019) compared with placebo (n=16). Purpose: We report preliminary results following repeat doses (days 1 and 29) of ARO-ANG3 in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) with elevated LDL-C despite statin therapy and average LDL-C of 130 mg/dL. An additional group (non-FH patients) had LDL-C > 70 mg/dL despite statin therapy. Methods: Seventeen FH patients received open-label, subcutaneous, ARO-ANG3 100 mg (n=6), 200 mg (n=6), or 300 mg (n=5). Nine non-FH, high risk patients with elevated LDL-C not at goal received either 200 mg ARO-ANG3 (n=6) or placebo (n=3) using a randomized double-blind design. Pharmacodynamic markers included serum ANGPTL3, LDL-C, TG, and others. Results: Results are reported as of 04 May 2020. In FH patients, ARO-ANG3 significantly reduced mean ANGPTL3 levels between 62-92% at week 16 in a dose-dependent manner (Table). LDL-C (23-37%) and TG (25-43%) were consistently reduced at all doses (Table). The mean percent reductions in non-FH patients for ANGPTL3 (85%), LDL-C (28%), and TG (29%) were comparable to those in FH patients, despite their initially lower LDL-C at baseline. As of 15 May 2020, there were no drug-related serious or severe adverse events (AEs) or discontinuations and most AEs were mild. The most common AEs reported in subjects receiving ARO-ANG3 were respiratory tract infection (30% of subjects) and injection site AEs (13% of subjects). Conclusions: In FH and non-FH patients, repeat doses of ARO-ANG3 significantly reduced ANGPTL3, LDL-C, and TG, with favorable safety.

Background: Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) increases the risk of acute pancreatitis and atherosclerosis. In a Phase 1 study (NCT03783377), single subcutaneous doses of investigational RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic ARO-APOC3 (10, 25, 50, and 100 mg; N=24) demonstrated deep and prolonged reductions in apolipoprotein C3 (APOC3) and triglycerides (TG) and increases in HDL-C in healthy volunteers with good tolerability, compared with placebo (N=16). Purpose: We report initial results of the effects of ARO-APOC3 in patients with HTG (fasting TG ≥ 300 mg/dL) or multifactorial chylomicronemia (MCM; fasting TG ≥ 880 mg/dL). Methods: Up to 40 subjects with HTG and 20 subjects with MCM will receive ARO-APOC3 or placebo on days 1 and 29. Pharmacodynamic responses include serum APOC3, TG, and other lipid parameters reported up to week 4 prior to the 2 nd dose. Results: At the data cutoff (16 March 2020), the first 4 enrolled patients with HTG and 6 enrolled patients with MCM were administered ARO-APOC3 50 mg. ARO-APOC3 substantially reduced mean (range) APOC3 levels by 96% (88-99%) in both patient groups at Week 4 (Table). ARO-APOC3 substantially reduced mean (range) TG by 78% (67-87%) in HTG patients and by 92% (90-95%) in MCM patients at Week 4. Three of 4 HTG patients and 3 of 6 MCM patients had TG levels below 150 mg/dL. All MCM patients had TG ≤ 500 mg/dL. To date, ARO-APOC3 has been generally well tolerated with no reports of treatment-related serious or severe adverse events. Two of the 6 unblinded MCM patients experienced a transient ALT elevation to >3X ULN that returned to approximate pre-dose baseline by Day 113. Conclusions: Preliminary results indicate that a single dose of ARO-APOC3 reduces APOC3 levels by >90% and TG by ~80% 4 weeks after treatment in patients with HTG and MCM. The magnitude of treatment effect was similar in both populations and ARO-APOC3 had a favorable safety profile. Using RNAi to silence expression of APOC3 appears promising for treating patients with HTG and MCM.

ACROSTUDY is an open-label, non-interventional post-authorization safety study (PASS) that began in 2004 to evaluate safety in at least 1000 acromegaly patients treated for 5 years with the GH receptor antagonist pegvisomant (PEGV). This commitment was fulfilled in 2013 but ACROSTUDY was extended as a voluntary PASS, ultimately collecting data on 2221 patients who were followed through Dec 2017. Objectives: To monitor the long-term safety of PEGV including the pituitary tumor volume, as prescribed in clinical practice. Patients & Methods: 50.8% were male, 92.4% Caucasian with median age 41.1 years (1.7-83.7) at diagnosis and median age 49.7 years (3.9-85.6) at start of PEGV. Mean duration of PEGV treatment was 9.3 years (0.0-20.8); 80.8% of patients started PEGV on a daily schedule and patients came from fifteen countries. Safety data included adverse events, change in tumor volume and liver tests. Efficacy was measured by IGF-I control (Patients were considered ‘IGF-I Controlled’ if the most temporally-related IGF-I measurement was normal for the local reference laboratory). Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) were evaluated using the PatientAssessed Acromegaly Symptom Questionnaire (PASQ). Results: No new safety signals were identified in the study. IGF-I SDS >2 decreased progressively from 88.4% of patients at baseline to 34.8% at year 5 at a mean dose(±SD) of 19.2(±12.9) mg/day; 63.3% of patients with a documented normal IGF-I SDS had a mean dose of 16.2(±9.03), while 1.9% had IGF-I SDS < -2 at a mean dose of 16.5(±5.81). 1795 Patients had at least 1 local pituitary imaging result reported: 71.1% of patients reported no change, 17.3% reported a decrease and 7.1% reported an increase in tumor size while 4.5% reported both an increase and a decrease. Scans reported as showing a meaningful change in tumor volume (n=264) were re-evaluated centrally by an independent expert: 54 were corroborated enlarged, 84 were decreased, 12 were read as both increased and decreased, 23 were read as no change and 40 inconclusive; thus the overall incidence of (corroborated) tumor increases was 3.0% and decreases 4.7%. In the overall cohort, AST and/or ALT were >3 × ULN at any time during PEGV treatment in 3.2% of patients. PASQ score was 15 (0-46) at baseline and 10 (0-41) at year 8. Summary: In this real world international study, overall biochemical control (i.e. normal IGF-I) progressively improved with pegvisomant, and was achieved in 63.3% patients by year 5. Improved IGF-I control was associated with improved symptoms of acromegaly. Importantly, in this large cohort of patients the incidence of pituitary tumor increase and liver test elevations were low, and similar to previously reported rates. One limitation of this observational study was that the PEGV dose may not have been adequately titrated to achieve IGF-I normalization. Unless otherwise noted, all abstracts presented at ENDO are embargoed until the date and time of presentation. For oral presentations, the abstracts are embargoed until the session begins. Abstracts presented at a news conference are embargoed until the date and time of the news conference. The Endocrine Society reserves the right to lift the embargo on specific abstracts that are selected for promotion prior to or during ENDO.

Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology ISSN 1470-3947 (print) | ISSN 1479-6848 (online)

We describe a value-driven approach to optimizing pharmaceutical portfolios. Our approach incorporates inputs from research and development and commercial functions by simultaneously addressing internal and external factors. This approach differentiates itself from current practices in that it recognizes the impact of study design parameters, sample size in particular, on the portfolio value. We develop an integer programming (IP) model as the basis for Bayesian decision analysis to optimize phase 3 development portfolios using expected net present value as the criterion. We show how this framework can be used to determine optimal sample sizes and trial schedules to maximize the value of a portfolio under budget constraints. We then illustrate the remarkable flexibility of the IP model to answer a variety of 'what-if' questions that reflect situations that arise in practice. We extend the IP model to a stochastic IP model to incorporate uncertainty in the availability of drugs from earlier development phases for phase 3 development in the future. We show how to use stochastic IP to re-optimize the portfolio development strategy over time as new information accumulates and budget changes occur.

BACKGROUND:Maraviroc, the first approved CCR5 antagonist, demonstrated 48-week safety and virologic efficacy in CCR5-tropic HIV-infected, treatment-experienced patients; however, critical longer-term safety and durability of responses are unknown.METHODS:Two-year follow-up of 2 prospective, randomized, blinded studies of maraviroc once daily or twice daily, or placebo in treatment-experienced patients with R5-tropic HIV-1 receiving an optimized background regimen. Unblinding occurred after the week-48 visit of the last enrolled patient. Safety and virologic parameters were assessed through week 96.RESULTS:One thousand forty-nine patients were randomized and received study drugs. HIV-1 RNA was <50 copies per milliliter at week 96 in 39% and 41% of patients receiving maraviroc every day or twice a day, respectively. Among patients with HIV-1 RNA <50 copies per milliliter at week 48, 81% and 87% of patients receiving maraviroc every day or twice a day, respectively, maintained this response at week 96. At week 96, median CD4+ T-cell counts increased from baseline by 89 and 113 cells per cubic millimeter with maraviroc every day and twice a day, respectively. Exposure-adjusted rates of adverse events were similar with maraviroc or placebo. No new or unexpected events were observed after week 48.CONCLUSIONS:Maraviroc-containing antiretroviral regimens maintained durable responses in treatment-experienced patients with R5 HIV-1 through 96 weeks of treatment with a safety profile similar to placebo.

Background Maraviroc treatment for HIV-1 infected patients results in larger CD4+ T cell rises than are attributable to its antiviral activity alone. We investigated whether this is due to modulation of T cell activation and inflammation. Methods and Findings Thirty maraviroc-treated patients from the Maraviroc versus Efavirenz Regimens as Initial Therapy (MERIT) study were randomly selected from among those who had CCR5-tropic (R5) HIV on screening and achieved undetectable HIV RNA (<50 copies/mL) by Week 48. Efavirenz-treated controls were matched for baseline characteristics to the maraviroc-treated patients selected for this substudy. Changes in immune activation and inflammation markers were examined for associations with CD4+ T cell changes. Maraviroc treatment tended to result in more rapid decreases in CD38 expression on CD4+ T cells and in plasma D-dimer concentrations than did treatment with efavirenz. The proportion of patients with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein >2 µg/mL increased from 45% to 66% in the efavirenz arm, but remained constant in the maraviroc arm (P = 0.033). Decreases in CD38 expression on CD8+ T cells were correlated with CD4+ T cell rises for maraviroc treatment (r = −0.4, P = 0.048), but not for treatment with efavirenz. Conclusions Maraviroc-treated patients had earlier, modest decreases in certain markers of immune activation and inflammation, although in this small study, many of the differences were not statistically significant. Levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein remained constant in the maraviroc arm and increased in the efavirenz arm. Decreases in immune activation correlated with increased CD4+ T cell gains. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00098293

Objectives:To determine factors associated with CD4 responses to maraviroc (MVC)-containing regimens in treatment-experienced patients. Methods:Forty-eight-week data from MOTIVATE 1 and 2 was used to assess MVC once or twice daily versus placebo (PBO), each with optimized background therapy (N = 1047). A repeated measures model evaluated longitudinal CD4 changes, multivariate linear regression evaluated predictors of week 48 increases, and Cox proportional hazard modeling evaluated time to category C events. Results:Median CD4 increases were greater on MVC once or twice daily than PBO (92, 103, and 24 cells/mm3, respectively; P < 0.05), and the difference remained significant among patients achieving less than 50 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL (126, 125, and 96 cells/mm3; P < 0.05) or when adjusted for other predictors of CD4 increase including change in HIV-1 RNA. Time to a category C event was longer on MVC; in multivariate models, higher on-treatment CD4 count, but not MVC treatment, was protective against new events (hazard ratio 0.8 per +25 cells/mm3; 95% confidence interval 0.78-0.87). Conclusions:MOTIVATE patients receiving MVC had larger CD4+ T-cell increases than those receiving PBO, even after adjusting for the greater virologic potency of MVC-containing regimens. This additional CD4 response was associated with a longer time to the development of AIDS-defining events on MVC.

RationaleThe relationship between leukocyte gene expression and recovery of respiratory function after injury may provide information on the etiology of multiple organ dysfunction.ObjectivesTo find a list of genes for which expression after injury predicts respiratory recovery, and to identify which networks and pathways characterize these genes.MethodsBlood was sampled at 12 hours and at 1, 4, 7, 21 and 28 days from 147 patients who had been admitted to the hospital after blunt trauma. Leukocyte gene expression was measured using Affymetrix oligonucleotide arrays. A linear model, fit to each probe-set expression value, was used to impute the gene expression trajectory over the entire follow-up period. The proportional hazards model score test was used to calculate the statistical significance of each probe-set trajectory in predicting respiratory recovery. A list of genes was determined such that the expected proportion of false positive results was less than 10%. These genes were compared to the Gene Ontology for 'response to stimulus' and, using Ingenuity software, were mapped into networks and pathways.Measurements and main resultsThe median time to respiratory recovery was 6 days. There were 170 probe-sets representing 135 genes that were found to be related to respiratory recovery. These genes could be mapped to nine networks. Two known pathways that were activated were antigen processing and presentation and JAK-signaling.ConclusionsThe examination of the relationship of gene expression over time with a patient's clinical course can provide information which may be useful in determining the mechanism of recovery or lack of recovery after severe injury.

The NIH project ‘Inflammatory and Host Response to Injury’ (Glue) is being conducted to study the changes in the body over time in response to trauma and burn. Patients are monitored for changes in their clinical status, such as the onset of and recovery from organ failure. Blood samples are drawn over the first days and weeks after the injury to obtain gene expression levels over time. Our goal was to develop a method of selecting genes that differentially expressed in patients who either improved or experienced organ failure. For this, we needed a test for the association between longitudinal gene expressions and the time to the occurrence of ordered categorical outcomes indicating recovery, stable disease, and organ failure. We propose a test for which the relationship between the gene expression and the events is modeled using the cumulative proportional odds model that is a generalization of the pooling repeated observation method. Given the high‐dimensionality of the microarray data, it was necessary to control for the multiplicity of the testing. To control for the false discovery rate (FDR), we applied both a permutational approach as well as Efron's empirical estimation method. We explore our method through simulations and provide the analysis of the multi‐center, longitudinal study of immune response to inflammation and trauma (http://www.gluegrant.org). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Chemokine receptors 5 (CCR5), the target of maraviroc (MVC), are located on cholesterol-rich domains called ‘lipid rafts’ within cell membranes [1]. In-vitro data suggest that 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl co-reductase inhibitors (statins) may reduce lipid raft numbers, which in turn may alter CCR5 availability for HIV attachment [2]. In-vivo data indicate limited or no independent antiretroviral activity for statins [3]. We hypothesized that statins could alter the activity of MVC by reducing the number of target receptors. We performed a post-hoc analysis using data from the Maraviroc versus Optimized Therapy in Viremic Antiretroviral Treatment-Experienced Patients (MOTIVATE) studies, which demonstrated the superior antiretroviral efficacy of MVC [daily (q.d.) and twice daily (b.i.d.)] relative to placebo when combined with an optimized background regimen in triple class-resistant and/or experienced patients [4,5]. In this analysis, we evaluated changes in HIV-1 RNA and CD4 cell count in MVC and placebo groups based on statin coadministration. Patients were considered to be on statins if these were started prior to or at baseline, and patients remained on the medication throughout the study or stopped at least 300 days after baseline. Among 1049 patients in the combined MOTIVATE trials, 103 met the above criteria, so were considered as receiving a statin. Data from the MVC groups (q.d. and b.i.d.) were combined (n = 840). Nineteen (10%) patients in the placebo group and 84 (10%) in the MVC group were on a statin. At baseline, both the ‘no statin’ and ‘statin’ groups had similar HIV RNA concentrations across the two treatment arms: 4.9 versus 4.9 log10 copies/ml for MVC versus placebo in the ‘no statin’ group, and 4.6 versus 4.5 log10 copies/ml in the ‘statin’ group. Mean drop in HIV RNA at week 48 was comparable across the two statin groups: −1.7 versus −0.8 log10 copies/ml (MVC versus placebo) in the ‘no statin’ and −1.9 versus −0.6 log10 copies/ml in the ‘statin’ group. The proportions of patients with HIV RNA below 50 copies/ml at week 48 for MVC versus placebo were 47% versus 20%, and 57% versus 11% in the ‘no statin’ and ‘statin’ groups, respectively. No interaction between the use of MVC and use of statin on the odds of achieving a viral load of less than 50 copies/ml was observed. CD4 cell counts at baseline were 161 versus 166 cells/μl within ‘no statin’ and 238 versus 209 cells/μl within ‘statin’ group (MVC versus placebo). At week 48, the median increases in CD4 cell counts were: 103 versus 29 cells/μl, and 75 versus 11 cells/μl for MVC versus placebo within ‘no statin’ and ‘statin’ groups, respectively. These data indicate that the antiviral and immunological efficacy of MVC in persons with CCR5-using HIV appears not to be significantly influenced by coadministration with statins. Acknowledgement This study was sponsored by Pfizer Inc., New York, USA.

BACKGROUND:HIV patients with wasting are at increased risk of opportunistic complications and fatality. OBJECTIVE:We hypothesized that augmenting dietary intake with high-biologic-value protein would enhance weight and lean tissue in weight-stable subjects with a prior unintentional weight loss of >3%. DESIGN:Fifty-nine subjects with HIV RNA concentrations <5000 copies/mL were randomly assigned to receive a 280-kcal supplement containing 40 g whey protein or a matched isocaloric control supplement without added protein twice daily for 12 wk. RESULTS:Before the study, intake of total energy and protein exceeded estimated requirements (44.3 +/- 12.6 kcal x kg(-1) x d(-1) and 1.69 +/- 0.55 g x kg(-1) x d(-1), respectively). Both supplements failed to increase total energy intake because of decreases in self-selected food intake. Changes in weight (0.8 +/- 2.4 and 0.7 +/- 2.4 kg) and lean body mass (0.3 +/- 1.4 and 0.3 +/- 1.5 kg) did not differ significantly between the whey protein and control groups, respectively. Waist-to-hip ratio improved more with whey protein (-0.02 +/- 0.05) than with the control (0.01 +/- 0.03; P = 0.025) at week 6 but not at week 12. Fasting triacylglycerol increased by 39 +/- 98 mg/dL with the control supplement and decreased by 16 +/- 62 mg/dL with whey protein at week 12 (P = 0.03). CD4 lymphocytes increased by 31 +/- 84 cells/mm(3) with whey protein and decreased by 5 +/- 124 cells/mm(3) with the control supplement at 12 wk (P = 0.03). Gastrointestinal symptoms occurred more often with whey protein. CONCLUSIONS:A whey protein supplement did not increase weight or lean body mass in HIV-positive subjects who were eating adequately, but it did increase CD4 cell counts. The control supplement with rapidly assimilable carbohydrate substituted for protein increased cardiovascular disease risk factors. Careful dietary and weight history should be obtained before starting nutritional supplements in subjects with stable weight loss and good viral control.

Motivation: The development of methods for linking gene expressions to various clinical and phenotypic characteristics is an active area of genomic research.Scientists hope that suchanalysismay, for example, describe relationships between gene function and clinical events such asdeathor recovery.Methodsareavailable for relatinggeneexpression to measurements that are categorized or continuous, but there is less work in relating expressions to an observed event time such as time to death, responseor relapse.Whengeneexpressionsaremeasuredover time, there are methods for differentiating temporal patterns. However, methods have not yet been proposed for the survival analysis of longitudinally collected microarrays. Results:We describe an approach for the survival analysis of longitudinal gene expression data. We construct a measure of association between the time to an event and gene expressions collected over time. Statistical significance is addressed using permutations and control of the false discovery rate. Our proposed method is illustrated on a dataset from a multi-center research study of inflammation and response to injury that aims to uncover the biological reasons why patients can have dramatically different outcomes after suffering a traumatic injury (www.gluegrant.org). Contact: dfinkelstein@partners.org

MOTIVATIONThe development of methods for linking gene expressions to various clinical and phenotypic characteristics is an active area of genomic research. Scientists hope that such analysis may, for example, describe relationships between gene function and clinical events such as death or recovery. Methods are available for relating gene expression to measurements that are categorized or continuous, but there is less work in relating expressions to an observed event time such as time to death, response or relapse. When gene expressions are measured over time, there are methods for differentiating temporal patterns. However, methods have not yet been proposed for the survival analysis of longitudinally collected microarrays.RESULTSWe describe an approach for the survival analysis of longitudinal gene expression data. We construct a measure of association between the time to an event and gene expressions collected over time. Statistical significance is addressed using permutations and control of the false discovery rate. Our proposed method is illustrated on a dataset from a multi-center research study of inflammation and response to injury that aims to uncover the biological reasons why patients can have dramatically different outcomes after suffering a traumatic injury (www.gluegrant.org).