A multicenter, phase 2 study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of osilodrostat, a new 11ß-hydroxylase inhibitor, in Japanese patients with endogenous Cushing's syndrome other than Cushing's disease.

This phase 2, single-arm, open-label, dose-titration, multicenter study evaluated osilodrostat (11ß-hydroxylase inhibitor) in Japanese patients with endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) caused by adrenal tumor/hyperplasia or ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone syndrome. The primary endpoint was percent change from baseline to week 12 in mean urinary free cortisol (mUFC) at the individual patient level. Of the nine patients enrolled in the study, seven completed the 12-week core treatment period and two discontinued at or prior to week 12 due to adverse events (AEs). Of the seven patients who completed 12 weeks of study treatment, two completed 48 weeks of study treatment. Median osilodrostat exposure was 12 weeks. Median (range) average dose including dose interruption (0 mg/day) was 2.143 (1.16-7.54) mg/day. Median (range, population) percentage change in mUFC was -94.47% (-99.0% to -52.6%, n = 7) at week 12. At week 12, 6/9 patients were complete responders (mUFC ≤ upper limit of normal [ULN]) and 1/9 was a partial responder (mUFC > ULN but decreased by ≥50% from baseline). Most frequent AEs were adrenal insufficiency (n = 7), gamma-glutamyl transferase increase, malaise, and nasopharyngitis (n = 3 each). Serious AEs were seen in four patients. No deaths occurred in this study. In conclusion, osilodrostat treatment led to a reduction in mUFC in all nine patients with endogenous CS other than Cushing's disease (CD), regardless of disease type, with >80% reduction seen in 6/7 patients at week 12. The safety profile was consistent with previous reports in CD patients, and the reported AEs were manageable.

Risk of hypoglycemia associated with repaglinide combined with clopidogrel, a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Repaglinide is widely prescribed to reduce postprandial hyperglycemia and elevated glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels associated with type 2 diabetes, and clopidogrel is a thienopyridine antiplatelet agent and widely used in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. It has been suggested that the concomitant use of repaglinide with clopidogrel may inhibit repaglinide metabolism, because repaglinide is a substrate of cytochrome P450 2C8 (CYP2C8) and the main metabolite of clopidogrel acyl-ß-D-glucuronide inhibits CYP2C8 activity. In this study, we retrospectively investigated the effect of clopidogrel with repaglinide on plasma glucose and the risk of hypoglycemia associated with the combination of both drugs. METHOD: Patients were taking clopidogrel (75 mg/day) and started taking glinide (1.5 mg/day repaglinide or 30 mg/day mitiglinide) for the first time from April 2012 to March 2017. We targeted subjects who were hospitalized at the start of glinide and whose preprandial plasma glucose was measured by a nurse. The glucose levels were collected for up to 5 days before and after the glinide start date. RESULTS: Average fasting plasma glucose levels (before breakfast) in the repaglinide and clopidogrel group before and after starting repaglinide were 180.1±35.5 and 136.5 ± 44.1 mg/dL, with a mean decrease of 43.6 ± 33.6 mg/dL. In contrast, there was only a moderate decrease of 11.6 ± 30.0 mg/dL in the mitiglinide and clopidogrel group. Minimum plasma glucose levels in the repaglinide and clopidogrel group before and after starting repaglinide were 145.2 ± 42.9 and 93.3 ± 36.3 mg/dL, respectively. Decrease in minimum levels after starting glinide in the repaglinide and clopidogrel group (51.9 ± 47.5 mg/dL) was more significant than those in the mitiglinide and clopidogrel group (only 2.1 ± 29.1 mg/dL), and the repaglinide group (without clopidogrel, 15.5 ± 20.0 mg/dL). Hypoglycemia was observed in 6 of 15 patients in the repaglinide and clopidogrel group, but only 1 of 15 patients in the mitiglinide and clopidogrel group, and no patients in the repaglinide group. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that minimum plasma glucose levels were significantly decreased in patients taking repaglinide and clopidogrel. Considering the risk of hypoglycemia associated with taking repaglinide and clopidogrel, when a glinide is required in patients taking clopidogrel, mitiglinide may be a better choice.

Efficacy of low-dose rosuvastatin in patients with type 2 diabetes and hypo high-density lipoprotein cholesterolaemia.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the efficacy of low-dose rosuvastatin for treating hypo high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterolaemia in patients with type 2 diabetes and dyslipidaemia. METHODS: Patients with HDL-cholesterol (C) < 40 mg/dl and triglycerides (TG) < 400 mg/dl who were receiving treatment with lipid-lowering drugs other than rosuvastatin (or previously untreated with lipid-lowering drugs) and with low-density lipoprotein [LDL]-C ≥ 120 mg/dl were included. Patients were treated with 2.5 or 5 mg rosuvastatin orally, once daily, to achieve the target LDL-C level specified in Japanese guidelines. Changes in total cholesterol, HDL-C, TG, LDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C and non-HDL-C at 3 and 6 months were prospectively analysed. Safety was evaluated by examining changes in hepatorenal function, glucose metabolism and creatine kinase. RESULTS: Out of 49 patients, all lipid parameters other than TG were significantly improved at 3 and 6 months. At 3 months, 83.3% of patients had achieved the target LDL-C level. Among nonlipid parameters, no changes were observed except for estimated glomerular filtration rate, which was improved by + 5.2% and + 9.6% at 3 and 6 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Low-dose rosuvastatin was effective in improving hypo-HDL cholesterolaemia and may have renoprotective effects.

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in stroke patients: a prospective multicenter study in Japan.

AIMS: The fact that Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) increases the risk of atherosclerosis has been epidemiologically studied and proven; however, a prospective study on the prevalence of MetS in stroke patients has never been conducted because of the difficulty in diagnosis under critical illness in the acute phase. Therefore, we conducted a prospective multicenter study to investigate the prevalence of MetS in stroke patients with modified diagnostic criteria for MetS. METHODS: Stroke patients admitted in the seven participating Emergency and Critical Care Centers within the two years from April 2007 were registered in this study as a prospective multicenter study. Inclusion criteria were 50 to 89 year-old stroke patients who presented within three days from the onset of symptoms. A total of 992 subjects were classified according to the stroke type and the prevalence of MetS and the associated risk factors were investigated. The participants in a medical checkup without any history of a stroke were enrolled as the control group, and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The prevalence of MetS as well as hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia in the infarction group was significantly higher than that in the non-stroke group. While the hemorrhage group showed no significant difference in the prevalence of MetS, only hypertension was significantly high. According to a subtype analysis, there is a significant correlation between waist circumference increment of the stroke patients and the prevalence of the risk factors of hypertension, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia. CONCLUSIONS: Different risk factors are significantly related to the type of stroke.