Study of Triheptanoin for the Prevention of Hypoglycemia in Patients With Medium Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD)

Participation in the study will require three overnight admissions at the Clinical and Translational Research Center at the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (also called the PCTRC). The total length of the study is 10 weeks. Subjects will have blood work and an intravenous access line (IV) placed for several blood draws during the visit. Subjects will begin fasting during the admission, which means they may consume only non-caloric fluids (water, unsweetened black coffee or tea, or sugar-free beverages). Bloodwork will be collected during the fast. Following the completion of the fast, the subject will eat a meal and will receive the study drug, triheptanoin. The total time of fasting will be up to 24 hours. Dosing for this study will begin at 0.2 gm/kg/day up to a dose of 1.0 gm/kg/day. The dose will be increased gradually to avoid gastric upset. The dose should be divided into 3 or 4 daily doses and given with food or liquid. The dose can be decreased if a subject experiences any gastric upset that indicates that they cannot tolerate the higher dose. Subjects will return two more times (at Weeks 5 and 9) to undergo the overnight admission and 24-hour fasting procedures outlined above. After the Week 9 admission they will no longer take the triheptanoin. Study staff will contact them by phone one week later (Week 10) to make sure they are not experiencing any adverse effects. All study procedures will be done at no cost to the subjects.