Tadalafil and Sildenafil for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01359670 |
Recruitment Status
:
Completed
First Posted
: May 25, 2011
Last Update Posted
: April 17, 2018
|
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Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
---|---|---|
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy | Drug: Tadalafil Drug: Sildenafil | Not Applicable |
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rare, progressive and fatal muscle disease affecting boys and accounts for 80% of muscular dystrophy cases. Tadalafil and sildenafil are medications approved by the FDA for the treatment of erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. This class of medication improves muscle blood flow in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy, but their benefit to boys with DMD is unknown. The purpose of this study is to 1) determine if tadalafil or sildenafil can improve muscle blood flow during exercise in boys with DMD; and 2) to inform the design of a subsequent, randomized, multi-center trial with clinical endpoints.
The investigators will enroll boys with DMD between the ages of 7 and 15 years who are ambulatory and without clinical heart failure. Participants will undergo 6 visits over the course of 5 weeks. The initial visit will include a medical history, physical exam, echocardiogram, and blood draw to determine eligibility for the study. Boys will be given a Holter monitor (a heart monitor) to wear for 48 hours to observe any irregular heartbeats or abnormalities.
Eligible boys will be randomized to one of the two study drugs: tadalafil or sildenafil. The boys will take a low dose (0.25mg/kg) of the study drug for the first 2 days and an intermediate dose (0.5mg/kg) for the subsequent 5 days. Then, boys will take a higher dose (1.0mg/kg) of the study drug for 1 week. Tadalafil will be taken once daily and sildenafil will be taken four times daily.
Study visits will occur 2 times at baseline, 2 times during the medication, and 1 time after washout of the medication. For these visits, boys will undergo an arm blood flow and hand grip exercise protocol. In this procedure, blood flow and oxygen delivery to the forearm muscles will be measured (noninvasively) before and during application of lower body negative pressure at rest and during handgrip exercise. Lower body negative pressure stimulates the blood flow changes that normally occur when a person sits up after lying down. During these visits, boys will complete a quality of life questionnaire, echocardiogram, and 6-minute walk tests. At home, boys will wear an accelerometer to measure physical activity and a Holter monitor to check for irregular heartbeats.
For boys who wish to continue with the study, there will be an option to cross-over and complete study visits with the drug they did not originally receive.
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Actual Enrollment : | 30 participants |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Intervention Model: | Crossover Assignment |
Masking: | None (Open Label) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Functional Muscle Ischemia and PDE5A Inhibition in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy |
Study Start Date : | May 2011 |
Actual Primary Completion Date : | May 2013 |
Actual Study Completion Date : | May 2013 |

Arm | Intervention/treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: Tadalafil |
Drug: Tadalafil
Escalating dose (0.25 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg, 1.0 mg/kg; once daily) over 2 weeks
Other Names:
|
Experimental: Sildenafil |
Drug: Sildenafil
Escalating dose (0.25 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg, 1.0 mg/kg; four times daily) over 2 weeks
Other Names:
|
- Functional muscle ischemia [ Time Frame: For 5 study visits ]Measured by the decrease in muscle tissue oxygenation (near infrared spectroscopy) and blood flow (Doppler ultrasound) evoked by reflex sympathetic activation in exercising forearm muscle.
- Cardiac Function [ Time Frame: For 5 study visits ]Echocardiogram
- EKG Monitoring [ Time Frame: 5 times over about 6 weeks ]48 hour Holter monitoring
- 6 Minute Walk Test [ Time Frame: For 5 study visits ]
- Physical Activity [ Time Frame: 5 times over about 6-weeks ]Assessed by accelerometers
- Quality of Life [ Time Frame: For 5 study visits ]PedsQL inventory

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 7 Years to 15 Years (Child) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | Male |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
- Diagnosis of DMD confirmed by muscle biopsy or DNA analysis
- Age 7-15y
- Ambulatory
- No clinical evidence of heart failure
Exclusion Criteria:
- Hypertension, diabetes, or heart failure by standard clinical criteria
- Elevated BNP level (>100 pg/ml)
- LVEF < 50%
- Wheelchair bound
- Cardiac rhythm disorder, specifically: rhythm other than sinus, SVT, atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia
- Continuous ventilatory support
- Liver disease
- Renal impairment
- Contraindications to tadalafil or sildenafil (use of nitrates, alpha-blockers, CYP3A inhibitors, amlodipine, or other PDE5A inhibitors)

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01359670
United States, California | |
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | |
Los Angeles, California, United States, 90048 |
Principal Investigator: | Ronald Victor, MD | Cedars-Sinai Medical Center |
Responsible Party: | Ron Victor, Associate Director of the Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT01359670 History of Changes |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
PPMD |
First Posted: | May 25, 2011 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | April 17, 2018 |
Last Verified: | April 2018 |
Keywords provided by Ron Victor, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center:
Duchenne muscular dystrophy tadalafil |
sildenafil muscle ischemia exercise |
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Muscular Dystrophies Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne Muscular Disorders, Atrophic Muscular Diseases Musculoskeletal Diseases Neuromuscular Diseases Nervous System Diseases Genetic Diseases, Inborn Genetic Diseases, X-Linked |
Sildenafil Citrate Tadalafil Vasodilator Agents Phosphodiesterase 5 Inhibitors Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors Enzyme Inhibitors Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action Urological Agents |