Kidney Disease clinical trials at University of California Health

Researchers are looking for a better way to treat people who have non-diabetic chronic kidney disease (non-diabetic CKD). The trial treatment, finerenone, is being developed to help people who have long lasting kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease (CKD). It works by blocking a certain hormone called aldosterone that causes injury and inflammation in the heart and kidney which is known to play a role in CKD. In this trial, the researchers want to learn if finerenone helps to slow down the worsening of the participants' non-diabetic CKD compared to a placebo. A placebo looks like a trial treatment but does not have any medicine in it. The trial will include about 1,580 men and women who are at least 18 years old. The participants will take finerenone or a placebo once a day as tablets by mouth. All of the participants will also continue to take their current medicine for their CKD. The participants will be in the trial for up to about 50 months. During the trial, the doctors will collect blood and urine samples and check the participants' health. The participants will also answer questions about how they are feeling and what adverse events they are having. An adverse event is a medical problem that happens during the trial. Doctors keep track of all adverse events that happen in trials, even if they do not think the adverse events might be related to the trial treatments.

Patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) who use hemodialysis to filter their blood require vascular access for the dialysis machine; the most common type of vascular access is called an arteriovenous fistula (AVF). The AVF is a direct connect between an artery and vein. Until recently, AVFs were only created through surgery that requires general anesthesia and opening up the skin. Now there are 2 FDA-approved devices designed to create AVFs using endovascular techniques (endoAVF), which means a device that goes through the skin instead of opening the skin up. Also patients are not required to be under general anesthesia, they can receive local anesthesia instead. Due to the relatively new approval of these devices, there is not a randomized study to compare the results of endoAVF versus surgAVF. This study is a pilot study for an eventually larger scale study to compare the results of endoAVF versus surgAVF. The study aims to determine what the proportion of patients seeking hemodialysis access could qualify for receiving either an endoAVF , surgAVF, or both. Patients who are screened for hemodialysis access must undergo a duplex ultrasound of the blood vessels in the arm to confirm correct sizing. If participants qualify for both procedures they will be randomized to either endoAVF or surgAVF and will track the clinical and patient-reported outcomes of each procedure. Our pilot study hopes to enroll 90 participants. Those outcomes will inform a larger scale study. If the potential participant chooses to abstain from participation in the randomized trial, preferring to decide the method of AVF creation, we will offer to them a chance to join an endoAVF/surgAVF registry that will track the clinical outcomes of the procedure via medical record monitoring.

The primary aim of the study is to investigate the effect of empagliflozin on kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death versus placebo on top of standard of care in patients with pre-existing chronic kidney disease. After completion of the interventional part of the study (primary study completion) a subset of participants will be followed up in a post-trial observational (non-interventional) manner for cardio-renal outcomes (estimated study completion date).

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of two different doses of MK-2060 (a monoclonal antibody against Factor XI) in end stage renal disease (ESRD) participants receiving hemodialysis via an arteriovenous graft (AVG). Data from this study will be used to aid dose selection of MK-2060 in future studies. The primary hypothesis is that at least one of the MK-2060 doses is superior to placebo in increasing the time to first occurrence of AVG event.

The study is designed as a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study to demonstrate the superiority of iptacopan (LNP023) at a dose of 200 mg b.i.d. compared to placebo on top of maximally tolerated ACEi or ARB on reduction of proteinuria and slowing renal disease progression in primary IgA Nephropathy patients.