An uncontrolled, open-label, 24-week, multicenter clinical study was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of mifepristone in the treatment of endogenous Cushing's syndrome. The study enrolled 50 subjects with clinical and biochemical evidence of hypercortisolemia despite prior surgical treatment and radiotherapy. The reasons for medical treatment were failed surgery, recurrence of disease, and poor medical candidate for surgery. Forty-three patients (86%) had Cushing's disease, four patients (8%) had ectopic ACTH secretion, and three (6%) had adrenal carcinoma. Baseline characteristics included: mean age of 45 years (range 26 to 71), mean BMI of 36 kg/m2 (range 24 to 66), mean weight 100 kg (range 61 to 199), and mean waist circumference was 119 cm (range 89 to 178); 70% were female; 84% were white and 16% were black or African American. Baseline mean urinary free cortisol level was 365 μg per 24 hr. 

Patients belonged to one of two cohorts: a “diabetes” cohort (29 patients, 26 with type 2 diabetes and 3 with glucose intolerance), and a “hypertension” cohort (21 patients). Efficacy was evaluated separately in the two cohorts. Mifepristone treatment was started in all patients at a dose of 300 mg once a day. The study protocol allowed an increase in dose to 600 mg after 2 weeks, and then by additional 300 mg increments every 4 weeks to a maximum of 900 mg per day for patients <60 kg, or 1200 mg per day for patients >60 kg, based on clinical tolerance and clinical response. 

Results in the diabetes cohort

Patients in the diabetes cohort underwent standard oral glucose tolerance tests at baseline and periodically during the clinical study. Anti-diabetic medications were allowed but had to be kept stable during the trial and patients had to be on stable anti-diabetic regimens prior to enrollment. The primary efficacy analysis for the diabetes cohort was an analysis of responders. A responder was defined as a patient who had a ≥ 25% reduction from baseline in glucose AUC. The primary efficacy analysis was conducted in the modified intent-to-treat population (n=25) defined as all patients who received a minimum of 30 days on mifepristone. Fifteen of 25 patients (60%) were treatment responders (95% CI: 39%,78%). 

Mean HbA1c was 7.4% in the 24 patients with HbA1c values at baseline and Week 24. For these 24 patients mean reduction in HbA1c was 1.1% (95% CI -1.6, -0.7) from baseline to the end of the trial. Fourteen of 24 patients had above normal HbA1c levels at baseline, ranging between 6.7% and 10.4%; all of these patients had reductions in HbA1c by the end of the study (range -0.4 to -4.4%) and eight of 14 patients (57%) normalized HbA1c levels at trial end. Antidiabetic medications were reduced in 7 of the 15 DM subjects taking antidiabetic medication and remained constant in the others. 

Results in the hypertension cohort

There were no changes in mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures at the end of the trial relative to baseline in the modified intent-to-treat population (n=21). 

Signs and symptoms of Cushing's syndrome in both cohorts

Individual patients showed varying degrees of improvement in Cushing's syndrome manifestations such as cushingoid appearance, acne, hirsutism, striae, psychiatric symptoms, and excess total body weight. Because of the variability in clinical presentation and variability of response in this open label trial, it is uncertain whether these changes could be ascribed to the effects of mifepristone.