Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

A single-dose placebo- and moxifloxacin-controlled study of the effects of temsirolimus on cardiac repolarization in healthy adults

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Temsirolimus, a selective inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin, is an approved treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). This study assessed the effect of intravenous (i.v.) temsirolimus 25 mg, the recommended dose for patients with RCC, on the corrected QT (QTc) interval.

Methods

This 3-period crossover study enrolled healthy subjects. In periods 1 and 2, subjects received i.v. placebo either alone or with open-label oral moxifloxacin. In period 3, subjects received a single dose of temsirolimus 25 mg. The primary statistical objective was to estimate the effect of temsirolimus compared with placebo on change from time-matched baseline QTc at the end of infusion (0.5 h). Assay sensitivity was evaluated by the effect of moxifloxacin on change from time-matched baseline QTc compared with placebo.

Results

In total, 58 subjects were enrolled. Temsirolimus had no effect on QTc interval in the primary analysis. At 11 of 12 secondary time points, the upper bound for the temsirolimus QTc 90% confidence intervals for the time-matched change from baseline difference from placebo was <10 ms, with no evidence of QTc trends or relationship to concentrations of temsirolimus or its major metabolite, sirolimus. Moxifloxacin, the positive control, produced a significant increase in the QTc interval compared with placebo 0.5–4 h post-dose (P < 0.0001). No subject had a QTc interval exceeding 450 ms or a change from baseline of >30 ms.

Conclusions

Therapeutic exposure to temsirolimus is not associated with clinically significant changes in QTc intervals in healthy adults.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Farkas AS, Nattel S (2010) Minimizing repolarization-related proarrhythmic risk in drug development and clinical practice. Drugs 70:573–603

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Salvi V, Karnad DR, Panicker GK, Kothari S (2010) Update on the evaluation of a new drug for effects on cardiac repolarization in humans: issues in early drug development. Br J Pharmacol 159:34–48

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Shah RR (2002) The significance of QT interval in drug development. Br J Clin Pharmacol 54:188–202

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Abraham RT, Gibbons JJ (2007) The mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway: twists and turns in the road to cancer therapy. Clin Cancer Res 13:3109–3114

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Boni JP, Hug B, Leister C, Sonichsen D (2009) Intravenous temsirolimus in cancer patients: clinical pharmacology and dosing considerations. Semin Oncol 36:S18–S25

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hudes G, Carducci M, Tomczak P, Dutcher J, Figlin R, Kapoor A, Staroslawska E, Sosman J, McDermott D, Bodrogi I, Kovacevic Z, Lesovoy V, Schmidt-Wolf I, Barbarash O, Gokmen E, O’Toole T, Lustgarten S, Moore L, Motzer R, Global ARCC Trial (2007) Temsirolimus, interferon alfa, or both for advanced renal-cell carcinoma. N Engl J Med 356:2271–2281

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Food and Drug Administration (2005) International Conference on Harmonisation; guidance on E14 clinical evaluation of QT/QTc interval prolongation and proarrhythmic potential for non-antiarrhythmic drug. Fed Regist 70:61134–61135

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hug B, Abbas R, Leister C, Burns J, Sonnichsen D (2010) A single-dose, crossover, placebo- and moxifloxacin-controlled study to assess the effects of neratinib (HKI-272) on cardiac repolarization in healthy adult subjects. Clin Cancer Res 16:4016–4023

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Boni J, Leister C, Burns J, Cincotta M, Hug B, Moore L (2007) Pharmacokinetic profile of temsirolimus with concomitant administration of cytochrome P450-inducing medications. J Clin Pharmacol 47:1430–1439

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Boni J, Abbas R, Leister C, Burns J, Jordan R, Hoffmann M, DeMaio W, Hug B (2009) Disposition of desipramine, a sensitive cytochrome P450 2D6 substrate, when coadministered with intravenous temsirolimus. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 64:263–270

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Torisel [package insert] (2011) Pfizer Inc, Philadelphia

  12. Avelox [package insert] (2008) Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Wayne

  13. Punt CJ, Boni J, Bruntsch U, Peters M, Thielert C (2003) Phase I and pharmacokinetic study of CCI-779, a novel cytostatic cell-cycle inhibitor, in combination with 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin in patients with advanced solid tumors. Ann Oncol 14:931–937

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Evans WE, Schentag JJ, Jusko WJ (eds) (1992) Applied pharmacokinetics: principles of therapeutic drug monitoring. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, New York

    Google Scholar 

  15. Zareba W, Moss AJ, Rosero SZ, Hajj-Ali R, Konecki J, Andrews M (1997) Electrocardiographic findings in patients with diphenhydramine overdose. Am J Cardiol 80:1168–1173

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Atkins MB, Hidalgo M, Stadler WM, Logan TF, Dutcher JP, Hudes GR, Park Y, Liou SH, Marshall B, Boni JP, Dukart G, Sherman ML (2004) Randomized phase II study of multiple dose levels of CCI-779, a novel mammalian target of rapamycin kinase inhibitor, in patients with advanced refractory renal cell carcinoma. J Clin Oncol 22:909–918

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Boni JP, Leister C, Burns J, Hug B (2008) Differential effects of ketoconazole on exposure to temsirolimus following intravenous infusion of temsirolimus. Br J Cancer 98:1797–1802

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hess G, Herbrecht R, Romaguera J, Verhoef G, Crump M, Gisselbrecht C, Laurell A, Offner F, Strahs A, Berkenblit A, Hanushevsky O, Clancy J, Hewes B, Moore L, Coiffier B (2009) Phase III study to evaluate temsirolimus compared with investigator’s choice therapy for the treatment of relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 27:3822–3829

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Benton RE, Sale M, Flockhart DA, Woosley RL (2000) Greater quinidine-induced QTc interval prolongation in women. Clin Pharmacol Ther 67:413–418

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Boni JP, Leister C, Bender G, Fitzpatrick V, Twine N, Stover J, Dorner A, Immermann F, Burczynski ME (2005) Population pharmacokinetics of CCI-779: correlations to safety and pharmacogenomic responses in patients with advanced renal cancer. Clin Pharmacol Ther 77:76–89

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Boni JP, Zhou S, Burns J, Smith K, Liao S (2006) Integrated population pharmacokinetic analysis of temsirolimus in cancer patients following weekly IV treatments [abstract 552]. Eur J Cancer Suppl 4:167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Schmidinger M, Zielinski CC, Vogl UM, Bojic A, Bojic M, Schukro C, Ruhsam M, Hejna M, Schmidinger H (2008) Cardiac toxicity of sunitinib and sorafenib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. J Clin Oncol 26:5204–5212

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Force T, Krause DS, Van Etten RA (2007) Molecular mechanisms of cardiotoxicity of tyrosine kinase inhibition. Nat Rev Cancer 7:332–344

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Girardi F, Franceschi E, Brandes AA (2010) Cardiovascular safety of VEGF-targeting therapies: current evidence and handling strategies. Oncologist 15:683–694

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Bello CL, Mulay M, Huang X, Patyna S, Dinolfo M, Levine S, Van VA, Toh M, Baum C, Rosen L (2009) Electrocardiographic characterization of the QTc interval in patients with advanced solid tumors: pharmacokinetic- pharmacodynamic evaluation of sunitinib. Clin Cancer Res 15:7045–7052

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Keisner SV, Shah SR (2011) Pazopanib: the newest tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the treatment of advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Drugs 71:443–454

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Tolcher AW, Appleman LJ, Shapiro GI, Mita AC, Cihon F, Mazzu A, Sundaresan PR (2011) A phase I open-label study evaluating the cardiovascular safety of sorafenib in patients with advanced cancer. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 67:751–764

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was sponsored by Wyeth Research, which was acquired by Pfizer Inc in October 2009. We thank all of the participants, research nurses, study coordinators, and operations staff who participated in this study. We also thank Christine H. Blood, PhD, of Peloton Advantage, LLC, for assistance with manuscript preparation, which was funded by Pfizer Inc.

Conflict of interest

At the time of this study, all authors were employees of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. In addition, J. Boni, C. Leister, and D. Sonnichsen were stockholders in Wyeth.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph P. Boni.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Boni, J.P., Leister, C., Hug, B. et al. A single-dose placebo- and moxifloxacin-controlled study of the effects of temsirolimus on cardiac repolarization in healthy adults. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 69, 1433–1442 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-012-1845-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-012-1845-7

Keywords

Navigation