Effect of Insulin Lowering on Lipogenesis

Authors
Category Primary study
Registry of TrialsClinicalTrials.gov
Year 2026
The goal of this clinical trial is to compare a one-week course of diazoxide (2 mg/kg per dose x 14 doses) and placebo in people with obesity and insulin resistance (IR) with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). The main question it aims to answer are how mitigation of compensatory hyperinsulinemia with diazoxide affects hepatic de novo lipogenesis, a major contributor to MASLD pathophysiology. Participants will: * Take 14 doses of placebo over 7 days, followed 4-12 weeks later by either 14 doses of diazoxide (at 2 mg per kg of body weight per dose \[mpk\]) or another 14 doses of placebo, over 7 days * Take 18 doses of heavy (deuterated) water (50 mL each) over 7 days, twice * Have blood drawn and saliva collected after an overnight fast on four mornings over the course of the study * Undergo insulin suppression tests (IST) to assess the degree of insulin resistance at the end of each 1-week study period * Consume their total calculated daily caloric needs as divided into three meals per day Researchers will compare blood tests at the beginning and end of each 1-week study period in participants randomized (like the flip of a coin) to receive either placebo followed by diazoxide or placebo followed by placebo, to see how the drug treatment affects de novo lipogenesis, serum insulin, plasma glucose, and other serum lipid parameters (triglycerides, free fatty acids), among others.
Epistemonikos ID: aed7ae5bccdeb12d041982a7e761259d0ab28045
First added on: Feb 12, 2026