Food and Insulin Effect on QT/QTC Interval of ECG

Moxifloxacin is routinely used as a probe to confirm assay sensitivity in thorough electrocardiogram (ECG) studies. It has been shown that a meal shortens the QT interval, which may affect pharmacokinetics (PK) and/or pharmacodynamics (PD) of the study drug. However, there is no published data clarifying this issue. There is also a paucity of data investigating ethnic differences of the effects of medicines on QTc. The aims of the study were to compare the effect of different food contents to placebo on the changes in ECG and to demonstrate the effect of insulin, C-peptide and glucose on the ECG. This was done by giving different treatments on separate days, which included intravenous insulin, a high carbohydrate breakfast \[\>70%\], and a calorie reduced low carbohydrate American FDA standard breakfast. Moxifloxacin 400 mg was used as a positive control and was given with and without food to Caucasian and Japanese volunteers to investigate racial differences.