Safety and Feasibility of Metformin for Sepsis Induced AKI

NCT05900284 · Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION · Phase: PHASE2 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 80

Last updated 2026-02-20

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an independent risk factor for death that affects 10-15% of hospitalized patients and more than 50% of patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Sepsis is the most frequent cause of AKI, affecting 48 million people worldwide every year, and accounting for approximately 11 million of annual global deaths. Despite these figures, there are no known therapies to prevent or reverse septic AKI; hence this study aims to establish the safety and feasibility of the implementation of metformin in the treatment of AKI in patients with sepsis.

This study is the first critical step to inform the design of a future, full-scale efficacy randomized clinical trial.

Conditions

Interventions

DRUG

Metformin low dose

If randomized to the 500 mg. Metformin arm, a tablet will be administered orally to the study participant twice a day for the initial five days starting on the date of study enrollment. Clinical research coordinators will collect blood and urine samples from study participants in both treatment arms. The blood will be collected at Baseline, Day 1 thru 7, and at hospital discharge or Day 30, whichever occurs first. On Day 2 and Day 5, the blood will be collected at hour-based intervals of 0.5h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 8h, 12h for a pharmacokinetic profile and delivered to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Clinical Laboratory for analysis. The remaining blood collection tubes will be delivered to the Clinical Research Biospecimen Core laboratory to be processed, separated into microtubes, and stored at -80°. Urine samples will be collected at Baseline, Day 1, 3, and 5. The urine will be processed, separated into microtubes, and frozen at -80°.

DRUG

Metformin high dose

If randomized to the 1000 mg. Metformin arm, a tablet will be administered orally to the study participant twice a day for the initial five days starting on the date of study enrollment. Clinical research coordinators will collect blood and urine samples from study participants in both treatment arms. The blood will be collected at Baseline, Day 1 thru 7, and at hospital discharge or Day 30, whichever occurs first. On Day 2 and Day 5, the blood will be collected at hour-based intervals of 0.5h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 8h, 12h for a pharmacokinetic profile and delivered to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Clinical Laboratory for analysis. The remaining blood collection tubes will be delivered to the Clinical Research Biospecimen Core laboratory to be processed, separated into microtubes, and stored at -80°. Urine samples will be collected at Baseline, Day 1, 3, and 5. The urine will be processed, separated into microtubes, and frozen at -80°.

DRUG

Placebo

If randomized to the Placebo arm, a tablet will be administered orally to the study participant twice a day for the initial five days starting on the date of study enrollment. Clinical research coordinators will collect blood and urine samples from study participants in both treatment arms. The blood will be collected at Baseline, Day 1 thru 7, and at hospital discharge or Day 30, whichever occurs first. On Day 2 and Day 5, the blood will be collected at hour-based intervals of 0.5h, 1h, 2h, 4h, 8h, 12h for a pharmacokinetic profile and delivered to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Clinical Laboratory for analysis. The remaining blood collection tubes will be delivered to the Clinical Research Biospecimen Core laboratory to be processed, separated into microtubes, and stored at -80°. Urine samples will be collected at Baseline, Day 1, 3, and 5. The urine will be processed, separated into microtubes, and frozen at -80°.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)

    collaborator NIH
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

    collaborator NIH
  • Hernando Gomez

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Hernando Gomez, MD · University of Pittsburgh

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-11-08
Primary Completion
2026-04-30
Completion
2026-04-30
FDA Drug
Yes

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05900284 on ClinicalTrials.gov