Acute Effects of Exogenous Ketone Ester Administration in Heart Failure

NCT04633460 | Completed Phase 2 Results FDA Drug

• 1 other identifier: 833870
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 26
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to test whether a ketone ester drink will improve exercise in people with heart failure (HF) compared to a placebo. In HF, patients are limited in their ability to do all the things they want to do, and exercise as much as they would like, due to becoming tired and short of breath early. There may be several reasons why these symptoms occur. There is some evidence that in addition to problems with the heart, patients with HF also have problems with their arteries and muscles that affect their ability to exercise. Ketones have been shown to improve exercise capacity in healthy volunteers, which may be related to effects on the heart function or on muscles. An infusion of ketones through an intravenous (IV) line has also been shown to significantly improve heart function, but whether a drink can produce similar improvements in HF patients is not known. This drink has been given status by Food and Drug Administration as "generally regarded as safe". The use of DeltaG in this study is experimental. DeltaG has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use being evaluated in this study.

Conditions

Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Maximal Exercise Capacity (Peak VO2) Assessed by Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing

  Peak VO2

  Assessed 60 minutes after the intervention.

• Submaximal Exercise Capacity (Exercise Time at 75% of Peak Workload) Assessed by Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing.

  Exercise time at 75% of peak workload

  Assessed 30 minutes after the intervention.

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Percent Change in Systemic Vascular Resistance With Exercise

  Assessed 60 minutes after the intervention.

• Substrate Utilization (Reflected by the Respiratory Exchange Ratio) Assessed by Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing.

  Assessed 60 minutes after the intervention.

• VO2 Efficiency (Total Work Performed Over Oxygen Consumed) During Submaximal Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing.

  Assessed 60 minutes after the intervention.

• Presence of Exercise-induced Arrhythmias (Significant Atrial or Ventricular Arrhythmias)

  Assessed throughout the study visit date after the intervention is given (until leaving the research study center that day).

Study Arms (2)

Ketone ester

EXPERIMENTAL

(R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate, a ketone ester

Dietary Supplement: Ketone ester

Placebo

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

KE-free solution

Dietary Supplement: placebo drink

Interventions

Ketone ester DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

A nutraceutical ketone ester (KE), (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate which provides systemic ketosis

Ketone ester

placebo drink DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

KE free placebo drink

Placebo

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 85 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Left ventricular ejection fraction ≥ 50%
• Evidence for elevated filling pressures as follows (at least one of the following between a-d):
• a. Mitral early (E)/mitral septal tissue annular (e') velocity ratio \> 8 in addition to one of the following: i. Large left atrium (LA\>4.0 cm width or LA volume index \>34 mL/m2) ii. Chronic loop diuretic use for control of symptoms iii. Elevated natriuretic peptides within the past year (NT-proBNP\>125 pg/ml or BNP\>35 pg/ml) b. Mitral E/e' ratio \> 14 at rest or with exercise c. Elevated invasively-determined filling pressures previously (resting left ventricular end-diastolic pressure \>16 mm Hg or pulmonary capillary wedge pressure \> 15 mmHg; or PCWP/LVEDP ≥ 25 mmHg with exercise) d. Prior episode of acute heart failure requiring IV diuretics with evidence of volume overload on exam/radiology or elevated natriuretic peptides.

You may not qualify if:

• Intentional ketogenic (high fat, low carbohydrate) diet in the last week or use of ketogenic medications (SGLT2 inhibitors)
• Significant liver disease (liver function tests \> 3x upper limit of normal, cirrhosis) or alcohol abuse disorder (\>14 drinks/week).
• Contraindications to stress testing, conditions that limit exercise, and other clinically-significant causes of exertional limitation (claudication with peripheral artery disease, atrial fibrillation and heart rate \>110 at rest, systolic blood pressure\>180 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure\>110 mmHg, infiltrative/hypertrophic/inflammatory cardiomyopathy, clinically significant pericardial disease, joint or neuromuscular disease that precludes exercise, acute coronary syndrome within the last 2 months, estimated glomerular filtration rate\<30 mL/min/1.73 m2, and hemoglobin \< 9 mg/dL).
• Clinically significant lung disease. This would be defined by severe obstructive lung disease (Gold stage 3), a requirement for supplemental oxygen, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with an exacerbation requiring steroids or antibiotics within the last 2 months.
• \>= Moderate aortic stenosis, \>mild mitral stenosis, \>= moderate aortic or mitral regurgitation on screening echocardiogram
• Type 1 diabetes mellitus
• Angina due to epicardial coronary disease or known presence of clinically-significant, unrevascularized epicardial coronary disease, in the investigator's opinion.
• Prior reduced LVEF to \< 45%

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Pennsylvania: lead

Study Sites (1)

Penn Presbyterian Medical Center

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Selvaraj S, Karaj A, Chirinos JA, Denney N, Grosso G, Fernando M, Chambers K, Demastus C, Reddy R, Langham M, Kumar D, Maynard H, Pourmussa B, Prenner SB, Cohen JB, Ischiropoulos H, Rickels MR, Poole DC, Church DD, Wolfe RR, Kelly DP, Putt M, Margulies KB, Zamani P. Crossover Trial of Exogenous Ketones on Cardiometabolic Endpoints in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction. JACC Heart Fail. 2025 Dec;13(12):102435. doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2025.03.002. Epub 2025 Mar 29.

  PMID: 40243975 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Interventions

formic acid 4-(3-oxobutyl)phenyl ester

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Payman Zamani
• Organization: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

payman.zamani@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

(215) 662-4000

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: phase 2
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: TRIPLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor of Medicine

Model Details: Overview: The overall study design will be a randomized, double-blind crossover comparison of ketone ester (KE) therapy vs. KE-free vehicle in 20 patients with established HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The main outcomes will be measures of exercise performance (peak and submaximal exercise).

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 23, 2020
• First Posted: November 18, 2020
• Study Start: October 6, 2020
• Primary Completion: October 4, 2023
• Study Completion: October 16, 2023
• Last Updated: November 27, 2024
• Results First Posted: November 27, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)