Nutritional Adequacy Therapeutic Enhancement in the Critically Ill. The NUTRIATE Study

This is a multi-center, parallel group, placebo-controlled and active-compared, randomized study to assess the ability of GSK962040 to enhance the delivery of enteral feed to critically ill subjects that are predisposed to developing feeding intolerance (e.g., percentage of goal volume); enhance gastric emptying in this population; and provide preliminary evidence of the drug's effect on outcomes of therapy (length of stay in the Intensive Care Unit \[ICU\], time on ventilator, ICU acquired infections, and 60-day mortality). Other aims are evaluation of GSK962040 safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics upon repeat dosing in a critically ill population.

After meeting eligibility criteria, male and female subjects will be randomized to either receive GSK962040 (50 milligram \[mg\]) once daily (OD) via naso-gastric (NG) or orogastric (OG) feeding tube (oral solution), or placebo by the same route. If subjects develop intolerance to enteral feeding at any point up to Dose 5 of study medication (inclusive), study treatments will switch such that those originally receiving GSK962040 will receive metoclopramide (10 mg, intravenous \[iv\], every 6 hours) and those subjects originally randomized to receive placebo will receive GSK962040 (50 mg, via NG, OD). Additionally, if subjects develop intolerance prior to any treatment, they will be randomized to receive either GSK962040 (50 mg, via NG, OD) or metoclopramide (10 mg, iv, every 6 hours).

The study will consist of a screening/baseline assessment, a treatment period (up to 7 days in duration), and a 4-day post treatment safety follow-up assessment. The duration of each subject's participation in the study from screening to follow-up safety assessment will be up to approximately 2 weeks. In addition, mortality will be assessed 60 days after admission to the ICU.


Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Age \& Gender: Male or female between 18 and 85 years of age inclusive, at the time of obtaining the informed consent.
* First admitted to participating ICU within the previous 48 hours.
* Intubated and invasively mechanically ventilated
* Indicated to receive early EN or are already receiving EN (subject must be on EN prior to receiving study treatment)
* Have at least one of the following
* Clinical evidence of cardiovascular dysfunction defined as the need for vasopressor agents (e.g. norepinephrine, epinephrine, vasopressin), \>5 microgram/kg/min of dopamine, or \>/= 50 microgram/min phenylephrine) for greater than or equal to 2 hours;
* Poly-trauma with an injury severity score (ISS) \>=15 points
* Acute traumatic or non-traumatic brain injury Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) \<=12, prior to the initiation of sedation.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Subjects who are not expected to be in the ICU and alive for at least 48 hrs from point of screening.
* Subjects with acute hepatitis (e.g. acute hepatitis B or C) or severe chronic liver disease (e.g. Child Pugh class C cirrhosis) will be excluded
* Liver function tests: If Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) \>=8x upper limit of normal (ULN); OR If ALT \>5-8x ULN and bilirubin \>2\<=3 ULN or bilirubin \>3x ULN (Include only if bilirubin \<1.5xULN); OR If ALT \<=5xULN and Bilirubin \>3xULN (Include only if ALT \<=3xULN and Bilirubin \>2 \<=3xULN)
* Subjects who have received a gastric prokinetic agent in the previous 12 hours (e.g., erythromycin, azithromycin, metoclopramide, domperidone).
* QT duration corrected for heart rate (QTc) \>480 ms. QTcF is the recommended correction factor for all sites. If QT duration corrected for heart rate by Fridericia's formula (QTcF) is not possible to obtain or calculate, QT duration corrected for heart rate by Bazett's formula (QTcB) or machine or manual over read, may be obtained after consultation with the medical monitor. The QT correction formula used to determine inclusion and discontinuation should be the same throughout the study.
* Use of strong Cyp3A4 inhibitors
* Subjects who require renal replacement therapy or with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of \<30 mL/min byCockroft-Gault calculation).
* Subjects who have a history of or who have undergone major esophageal or gastric surgery on this admission (major lower abdominal surgery will not result in exclusion unless this carries a contraindication to enteral feeding).
* Subjects with an absolute contraindication to enteral nutrition e.g. subjects with ongoing bowel obstruction or perforation.
* Subject has a gastric pacemaker
* Pregnant or lactating females
* History of sensitivity to any of the study medications, or components thereof or a history of drug or other allergy that, in the opinion of the investigator or GSK Medical Monitor, contraindicates their participation.
* Concurrent enrollment in other interventional study involving a novel (i.e.unapproved or experimental) chemical or biopharmaceutical entity.
* Previous randomization in this study
* Subjects for whom the reason for admission to ICU was an overdose (deliberate or accidental; medicinal product or not).
* Exclusion to re-randomization:
* Subjects with an untreated pheochromocytoma.
* Subjects with a past history of a seizure disorder (e.g., epilepsy) and is currently receiving anti-epileptic treatment for their seizure disorder, ongoing refractory, or sustained seizure disorder (prophylactic use for head injury/isolated new seizure maintained on anti-seizure meds in ICU acceptable).
* Subjects taking drugs likely to cause extrapyramidal reactions.