Positioning Imatinib for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PIPAH)
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04416750 |
Recruitment Status :
Recruiting
First Posted : June 4, 2020
Last Update Posted : September 20, 2021
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Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
---|---|---|
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension | Drug: Imatinib Mesylate | Phase 2 |
What does the study involve?
The study involves treatment of PAH patients with imatinib (study drug) for up to 24 weeks, and clinical assessments and tests to assess the drug's safety and tolerability.
PAH patients will be seen at their local hospital by the PAH clinical research team. Before someone can start study, the study doctor (or clinical study team) will describe the clinical trial in detail. If a potential subject decides to participate, he/she will be asked to sign the informed consent form before any study procedures are done.
Participants will be asked to come to their local hospital for clinical appointments. This includes a screening visit, a baseline visit, three clinical assessments and an end-of-study visit. In between, and at the very end of these, there will be six tele-visits (assessments over the phone). Each clinical appointment will be on a weekday morning or afternoon. No major lifestyle restrictions are required for these appointments.
Participants will undergo clinical examinations and tests to monitor the severity of PAH and the response to the study drug. Clinical procedures include:
- Questions about demographics, medical and medication history
- Physical examination and record of vital signs (blood pressure, temperature, heart and respiratory rate)
- Questionnaire about quality of life,
- Assessments of PAH severity (WHO Functional Class, six-minute walk test, and Borg dyspnoea index)
- Right heart catheterisation to assess response to the drug
- Haematology and clinical chemistry blood tests to ensure safety
- Serum pregnancy test and urine pregnancy tests (if applicable) to exclude pregnancy
- Blood samples to measure the levels of the study drug in the circulation
- Additional blood samples for future research on PAH and/or the mechanism of action of the drug
- Electrocardiogram (ECG), and echocardiogram to assess the size, shape, pumping action and the extent of any damage to the heart
- Brain MRI scan (or CT scan if MR is not indicated/tolerated) to exclude bleeding in the brain
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Estimated Enrollment : | 43 participants |
Allocation: | N/A |
Intervention Model: | Single Group Assignment |
Intervention Model Description: | The highest tolerated dose of Imatinib will be determined using a Bayesian continual reassessment method. Treatment efficacy at the pre-determined highest tolerated dose will be assessed using a Simons two stage design. |
Masking: | None (Open Label) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Positioning Imatinib for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension |
Actual Study Start Date : | January 20, 2021 |
Estimated Primary Completion Date : | July 1, 2024 |
Estimated Study Completion Date : | July 1, 2024 |

Arm | Intervention/treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: Treatment
Open label; Imatinib tablets administered once daily; Dosage: in the range of 100mg-400mg; Group evaluated: adults with PAH
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Drug: Imatinib Mesylate
Treatment with Imatinib
Other Name: Oral treatment |
- Identifying the highest tolerated dose [ Time Frame: 12 months ]Part 1: Discontinuation of the drug for more than 5 consecutive days due to Grade 2 or above Adverse Events, defined by NCI criteria (version 5.0, 2017) adapted for the study.
- Change in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) [ Time Frame: 24 months ]Part 2: The primary efficacy endpoint is a binary variable. For patients with a baseline pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) >1000 dynes·s·cm-5, success is defined by an absolute reduction in PVR of ≥300 dynes·s·cm-5 at 24 weeks. For patients with a baseline PVR ≤1000 dynes·s·cm-5, success is a 30% reduction in PVR at 24 weeks.
- Change in exercise test [ Time Frame: 24 weeks ]Change in six minute walk distance (6MWD) at 24 weeks.
- Change in ejection fraction measures [ Time Frame: 24 weeks ]Change in right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) values, measured in echocardiogram (at screening visit and at 24 weeks).
- Change in brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) values [ Time Frame: 24 weeks ]Change in plasma BNP (or proNT-BNP) levels from baseline at 24 weeks.
- Change in quality of life scores [ Time Frame: 24 weeks ]Change in Quality of Life (QoL) scores from baseline at 24 weeks.
- Plasma proteome measures [ Time Frame: 24 weeks ]Change in plasma proteome from baseline at 24 weeks.

Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years to 80 Years (Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
- Subjects aged between 18-80 years old
- PAH which is idiopathic; PAH heritable; PAH associated with connective tissue disease; PAH after ≥ 1 year repair of congenital systemic to pulmonary shunt, or PAH associated with anorexigens or other drugs
- Subjects willing to be genotyped for genes that influence PDGF activity
- Resting mean pulmonary artery pressure ≥25 mmHg, Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure ≤15 mmHg, PVR >5 wood units, and normal or reduced cardiac output , as measured by right heart catheterisation (RHC) at entry
- Six-minute walking distance >50m at entry
- Stable on an unchanged PAH therapeutic regime comprising at least 2 therapies licensed for PAH (any combination of endothelin receptor antagonist, phosphodiesterase inhibitor or prostacyclin analogue) for at least 1 month prior to screening
- Able to provide written informed consent prior to any study mandated procedures
- Contraception: Fertile females (women of childbearing potential) are eligible to participate after a negative highly sensitive pregnancy test, if they are taking a highly effective method of contraception during treatment and until the end of relevant systemic exposure. Fertile males who make use of condom and contraception methods during treatment and until the end of relevant systemic exposure in women of childbearing potential -full details are in included in the research protocol-
Exclusion criteria:
- Unable to provide informed consent and/or are non-fluent speakers of the English language
- Hypersensitivity to Imatinib or to any of the excipients
- Clinically-significant renal disease (confirmed by creatinine clearance <30 ml/min per 1.73m2)
- Clinically-significant liver disease (confirmed by serum transaminases >3 times than upper normal limit)
- Patients receiving oral and/or parenteral anticoagulants (this does not apply to single antiplatelet therapy)
- Anaemia confirmed by haemoglobin concentration <10 g/dl
- History of thrombocytopenia
- Individuals known to have haemoglobinopathy sickle cell disease, thalassaemia
- Hospital admission related to PAH or change in PAH therapy within 3 months prior to screening
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History of left-sided heart disease and/or clinically significant cardiac disease, including but not limited to any of the following:
- Aortic or mitral valve disease (stenosis or regurgitation) defined as greater than mild aortic insufficiency, mild aortic stenosis, mild mitral stenosis, moderate mitral regurgitation
- Mechanical or bioprosthetic cardiac valve
- Pericardial constriction, effusion with tamponade physiology, or abnormal left atrial size.
- Restrictive or congestive cardiomyopathy
- Left ventricular ejection fraction ≤50% (measured in echocardiogram at screening)
- Symptomatic coronary disease
- Significant (2+ for regurgitation) valvular disease other than tricuspid or pulmonary regurgitation
- Acutely decompensated left heart failure within 1 month of screening
- History of untreated obstructive sleep apnoea
- Evidence of significant lung disease on high-resolution CT (if available) or recent (performed within 12 months) lung function, where FEV1 < 50% predicted and FVC < 70% predicted, and DLCO (or TLCO) < 50% predicted if any CT abnormalities; judged by the Site Physician
- Patients with a history of uncontrolled systemic hypertension
- Acute infection (including eye, dental, and skin infections)
- Chronic inflammatory disease including HIV, and Hepatitis B
- Women of childbearing potential who are pregnant or breastfeeding (if applicable)
- Previous intracerebral haemorrhage
- Patients who have received an Investigational Medicinal Product (IMP) within 5 half-lives of the last dose of the IMP or 1 month (whichever is greater) before the baseline visit

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): NCT04416750
Contact: Andreas-Antonios Roussakis, MD, PhD | +44(0)2075946822 | a.roussakis@imperial.ac.uk |
United Kingdom | |
Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust | Recruiting |
London, Greater London, United Kingdom, W12 0HS | |
Contact: Luke Howard, Dr | |
Sub-Investigator: Gulammehdi Haji, Dr | |
Royal United Hospital, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust | Not yet recruiting |
Bath, United Kingdom, BA1 3NG | |
Contact: Jay Suntharalingam, Dr | |
Royal Papworth Hospital, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Not yet recruiting |
Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 0AY | |
Contact: Mark Toshner, Dr | |
Golden Jubilee National Hospital, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde | Not yet recruiting |
Glasgow, United Kingdom, G81 4DY | |
Contact: Colin Church, Dr | |
Royal Free Hospital, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust | Not yet recruiting |
London, United Kingdom, NW3 2QG | |
Contact: Gerry Coghlan, Dr | |
Royal Brompton Hospital, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust | Not yet recruiting |
London, United Kingdom, SW3 6NP | |
Contact: John S Wort, Dr | |
Newcastle Freeman Hospital, The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Not yet recruiting |
Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, NE7 7DN | |
Contact: Jim Lordan, Dr | |
Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation | Recruiting |
Sheffield, United Kingdom, S10 2JF | |
Contact: Alexander Rothman, Dr | |
Sub-Investigator: David Kiely, Prof | |
Sub-Investigator: Robin Condliffe, Dr |
Study Director: | Martin R Wilkins, MD, FRCP | Imperial College London |
Responsible Party: | Imperial College London |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT04416750 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
IRAS ID: 274093 2020-001157-48 ( EudraCT Number ) 20HH5896 ( Other Identifier: Sponsor (Imperial College London) ) 20/SC/0240 ( Other Identifier: Health Research Authority (UK) ) |
First Posted: | June 4, 2020 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | September 20, 2021 |
Last Verified: | September 2021 |
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: | No |
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: | No |
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension PAH Imatinib TKI Genotype |
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Familial Primary Pulmonary Hypertension Hypertension Hypertension, Pulmonary Lung Diseases Vascular Diseases Cardiovascular Diseases |
Respiratory Tract Diseases Imatinib Mesylate Antineoplastic Agents Protein Kinase Inhibitors Enzyme Inhibitors Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action |