Empagliflozin in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

The aim of the study is to determine whether conducting a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial is feasible, safe for the patient and whether the treatment is well tolerated in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.

This study is designed as a prospective, single-center, phase IIa, single-arm, open-label, interventional proof-of-concept trial in patients diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) who are currently on stable therapy. Patients will be administered a once-daily oral dose of 10 mg empagliflozin for a duration of 12 weeks along with standard treatment. The primary objective of this study is to assess safety and tolerability of empagliflozin and to assess whether a potential future randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study is feasible.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age ≥ 18 years
2. Diagnosis of idiopathic PAH
3. Documented diagnostic right heart catheterization (RHC) at any time prior to screening confirming diagnosis of WHO diagnostic pulmonary hypertension Group I: PAH with subtype idiopathic PAH. The documented RHC shows all of the following criteria:

   1. mPAP \> 20 mmHg at rest
   2. Pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP) or left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) ≤ 15 mmHg at rest
   3. PVR ≥ 240 dyn·sec/cm5 (3 Wood units) at rest
4. Symptomatic pulmonary hypertension classified as World Health Organization (WHO) functional class (FC) II, III or IV
5. PAH therapy is at stable (per investigator) dose levels of standard of care (SoC) therapies for at least 90 days prior screening. SoC therapy refers to a therapy consisting of at least 1 agent from a list including: an endothelin-receptor antagonist (ERA), a phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitor, a soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator, and/or a prostacyclin analogue or receptor agonist (SC/inhaled/PO).

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Any subject who received any investigational medication within 1 month prior to the start of this study or who is scheduled to receive another investigational drug during the course of this study. Patients participating in a purely observational trial will not be excluded
2. Females of childbearing potential, defined as a sexually mature woman who: 1) has not undergone a hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy or 2) has not been naturally postmenopausal (amenorrhea following cancer therapy does not rule out childbearing potential) for at least 24 consecutive months (i.e., has had menses at any time in the preceding 24 months), unable or unwillingly to either:

   1. Use highly effective methods of birth control according to the International Conference on harmonisation of pharmaceuticals for human use (ICH) that result in a low failure rate of less than 1% per year when used consistently and correctly 43. Highly effective methods include hormonal contraception (for example, birth control pills, injection, implant, transdermal patch, vaginal ring); intrauterine device (IUD); tubal ligation (having your tubes tied); or a partner with a vasectomy who has completed follow-up to confirm a successful procedure
   2. Have a negative pregnancy tests as verified by the investigator prior to starting study therapy and agrees to have an extra pregnancy test 8 weeks after start of the study
3. Contraindication for CMR imaging as defined in the protocol of the Amsterdam UMC "Kwaliteitsdocument Cardiale MRI (Versie 1)". The list of contra-indications includes: claustrophobia, ferromagnetic implants, implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker (except for the MR conditional) and ball-in-cage mechanic heart valve.
4. Impaired renal function, defined as eGFR \< 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (CKD-EPI) or requiring dialysis
5. History of chronic severe (Child Pugh classification score \>10, Appendix 1) or active liver disease defined as serums transaminases \>5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) or bilirubin \> 1.5 x ULN
6. History of ketoacidosis
7. Known allergy, intolerance or hypersensitivity to empagliflozin or other SGLT-2 inhibitors
8. Use of lithium compounds and being unable or unwillingly to increase the monitoring frequency of lithium levels
9. Current or scheduled use of the following Uridine glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) inducers: phenytoin, rifampicin, carbamazepine, lamotrigine, ritonavir, efavirenz, tipranavir, phenobarbital, testosterone propionate and nelfinavir.
10. Current or prior use of a SGLT-2 inhibitor
11. Heart transplant recipient or listed for heart transplant
12. Chronic pulmonary disease requiring home oxygen or steroid maintenance therapy
13. Symptomatic hypotension and/or a systolic blood pressure (SBP) \< 90 mmHg at screening
14. Gastrointestinal (GI) surgery or GI disorder that could interfere with absorption of trial medication in the investigator's opinion
15. Presence of any other disease than pulmonary arterial hypertension with a life expectancy of \<1 year in the investigator's opinion
16. Women who are pregnant, nursing, or who plan to become pregnant while in the trial
17. History of severe (previously required or prolonged patient hospitalization, resulted in persistent or marked disability/incapacity) or recurrent (≥2 infections in six months or ≥3 infections in one year) genital infections.
18. History of severe hypoglycaemia (\<40 - 30 mg/dL = \<2.2 - 1.7 mmol/L), previous hospitalisation for hypoglycaemia or seizures attributed to hypoglycaemia
19. Active solid or haematological malignancy, with the exception of fully excised or treated basal cell carcinoma, cervical carcinoma in-situ, or ≤ 2 squamous cell carcinomas of the skin
20. History or suspicion of inability to cooperate adequately
21. Any condition that, in the investigator's opinion, makes them an unreliable trial subject or unlikely to complete the trial