Exenatide Once-weekly as a Treatment for Multiple System Atrophy (MSA)

June 18, 2025 updated by: University College, London

An Open Label, Single Site, 48 Week, Randomised Controlled Trial Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Exenatide Once-weekly in the Treatment of Patients With Multiple System Atrophy

Fifty patients with early stage Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) will be recruited and randomised to receive Exenatide injections, or to act as controls in this open label trial. For half of the patients, Exenatide will be given as a once weekly subcutaneous injection in addition to participant's regular medication. All patients will continue to receive standard of care treatment for MSA. Detailed assessments will be made of all patients at baseline and periodically for a total of 48 weeks. The primary endpoint will be the difference in total Unified Multiple System Atrophy Rating Scale (UMSARS) score (Parts I and II) at 48 weeks comparing Exenatide treated to best medically treated patients (controls). Secondary measures will include adverse event reports, self-completed questionnaires, and blood test results. Aside from these assessments, all patients will continue any regular MSA medications throughout the trial with adjustments made only according to clinical need.

Standard of care treatment for patients on non IMP arm will be dependant on the patients individual symptoms - there is no broad standard treatment for every patient.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Fifty patients with early stage MSA will be recruited and randomised to receive Exenatide injections, or to act as controls in this open label trial.

Once a potential participant has been identified they will receive a patient information leaflet, and will be given a minimum of 24 hours to read this before being recruited on to the trial. Patients will need to be eligible for the trial by meeting the inclusion criteria.

During pre-treatment there will be a screening visit and a baseline visit. Pre-treatment assessments will include: demographics, medical history, family history, any previous genetic tests recorded, previous drug compliance issues recorded, physical examination, neurological examination, 12-lead ECG, routine bloods (FBC, U&E, LFT, glucose, amylase, HbA1c, PT and APTT), height, weight, vital signs, serum or urine pregnancy tests (for women of childbearing potential), MoCA, BDI-II and Concomitant medications. Patients will then wear a sensor attached to their lower back for a week. They will then return for their baseline visit. At the baseline visit assessments will include: physical exam, neurological exam, lumbar puncture for CSF collection, serum collection, fasting blood tests, vital signs, UMSARS, COMPASS Select, COMPASS Change scale, timed motor tests, The Unified Dystonia Rating Scale, MoCA, BDI-II, Concomitant medication review and adverse event review. Participants will then be randomised to both control arm or trial drug arm and receive the according treatment. The baseline visit will also include a training session for self-administration of IMP.

Patients randomised to receive the trial drug will receive 2mg Exenatide once a week for 48 weeks via subcutaneous injection. Follow up visits will be every 12 weeks and patients will be given a sufficient supply to last them till their next follow up appointment (can be stored in fridge at home). They will also be given a dosing diary to record the time and day of injection administration.

Patients will continue to attend their normal neurology appointments as well as trial specific appointments. Patients will have a telephone call with the research nurse at week 4. Thereafter detailed assessments including Physical and Neurological exam, ECG's, Movement tests Including the Unified Multiple System Atrophy Rating Scale (videotaped), concomitant medications review, adverse event review, and blood sampling at baseline and every 12 weeks for a total of 48 weeks. Each patient will also have a Lumbar Puncture at baseline and at their final visit.

The primary endpoint will be the difference in total Unified Multiple System Atrophy Rating Scale (UMSARS) score (Parts I and II) at 48 weeks comparing Exenatide to best medically treated patients. Secondary measures will include adverse event reports, self-completed questionnaires, and blood test results. Aside from these assessments, all patients will continue any regular MSA medications throughout the trial with adjustments made only according to clinical need.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
50

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
      • London, United Kingdom, WC1N 3BG
        • Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre, National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, UCLH NHS Foundation trust

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

26 years to 76 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participants aged 30-80 years old with a diagnosis of Possible or Probable MSA of the parkinsonian subtype (MSA-P) or cerebellar subtype (MSA-C) according to The Gilman Criteria (Gilman et al. 2008).
  • Participants who are less than five years from the time of documented MSA diagnosis or from the time of documented parkinsonian / ataxic neurological condition that later turns out to be MSA.
  • Participants who are able to walk at least 10 metres with or without assistance. Participants with an anticipated survival of at least three years in the opinion of the investigator.
  • Participants that are willing to adhere to the study drug regimen.
  • Participants that are willing and able to perform all protocol-specified assessments and comply with the study visit schedule.
  • Females of childbearing potential and male participants with partners of childbearing potential must agree to use an effective method of contraception from the time consent is signed until 10 weeks after treatment discontinuation. Females of childbearing potential have a negative pregnancy test within 7 days prior to being randomised.
  • Willing and able to provide written informed consent.
  • Subjects who are not able to write may give verbal consent in the presence of at least one witness, and the witness should sign the informed consent form.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Females who are pregnant, planning pregnancy or breastfeeding.

  • Women of child-bearing potential who do not practice an acceptable method of birth control. Subjects who meet any of the following criteria which tend to suggest advance disease:

    1. Speech impairment as assessed by a score of ≥ 3 on UMSARS question 1
    2. Swallowing impairment as assessed by a score of ≥ 3 on UMSARS question 2
    3. Impairment in ambulation as assessed by a score of ≥ 3 on UMSARS question 7
    4. Falling more frequently than once per week as assessed by a score of ≥ 3 on UMSARS question 8. Participants with a clinically significant or unstable medical or surgical condition, which in the opinion of the investigator might preclude safe completion of the study.
  • Participants with active malignant neoplasms or history of malignant neoplasm in the last 5 years. Participants with movement disorders other than MSA.
  • Concurrent dementia defined by a score lower than 21 on the MoCA.
  • Concurrent severe depression defined by a score of ≥30 on the Beck Depression Inventory-II.
  • History of deep brain stimulation surgery.
  • Participants who have taken any investigational products within 90 days prior to baseline.
  • Participants with a BMI < 18.5.
  • Participants with diabetes, end stage renal disease or severely impaired renal function.
  • History of clinically significant cardiac disease, pancreatitis and/or alcoholism.
  • Participants with severe gastrointestinal disease including gastroparesis.
  • Ongoing treatment with sulphonylurea.
  • Known allergies to the IMP and excipients of IMP.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
No Intervention: Standard of care
Experimental: Exenatide
Drug: Exenatide Pen Injector [Bydureon]
Exenatide is a treatment licensed for use in Type 2 diabetes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in UMSARS Score (Parts I+II) From Baseline
Time Frame: Baseline and 48 weeks
The primary endpoint is the total Unified Multiple System Atrophy Rating Scale (UMSARS) score (Parts I and II), exploring the change from baseline overtime (evaluated at 48-weeks). Part I is a 12-item historical interview (max score 48) and Part II is a 14-item clinical examination (max score 56). Part I and II are added together to give a total score, which can range from 0 to 104. Higher scores indicate worse disease severity.
Baseline and 48 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Loss of Independent Ambulation
Time Frame: 48 weeks
Proportion of participants with loss of independent ambulation, defined by a score of 4 on the UMSARS-I Item 7 (walking) at 48 weeks.
48 weeks
Multiple System Atrophy Quality of Life (MSA-QoL) Scale
Time Frame: 48 weeks
The Multiple System Atrophy Quality of Life (MSA-QoL) scale measured health-related quality of life across three subscales (motor, nonmotor, and emotional/social functioning). Each item (40 in total) has five increasing levels of impairment (0 to 4), with 0 representing no impairment and 4 representing extreme impairment. Scores for the three subscales were generated by summing items and transformed to a range of 0 to 100 (100 × [(observed score minus min possible score)/(max possible score minus min possible score)]).
48 weeks
Number of Falls
Time Frame: 48 weeks
Number of falls reported by the participant at 48-weeks.
48 weeks
Milestones on UMSARS Part 1 (Speech, Swallow and Falling)
Time Frame: 48 weeks
The UMSARS Part 1 is 12-item sub-scale which comprises a historic review of disease-related impairments. A single score using a 0 (no impairment) to 4 (severe impairment) was generated for each item (max score 48 points). We examined the proportion of participants reaching a score of ≥ 3 on UMSARS item 1 (speech), item 2 (swallowing) and item 8 (falling) by 48 weeks.
48 weeks
Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Scale
Time Frame: 48 weeks
The CGI evaluates the change from the initiation of treatment on a seven-point scale (1 = =very much improved to 7 = very much worse since the initiation of treatment). A single score at 48 weeks was recorded.
48 weeks
Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)
Time Frame: 48 weeks
The MoCA is a brief cognitive scale (scored out of 0-30 points). A score of 26 or more reflects normal cognitive abilities, whereas lower scores indicate cognitive impairment. The difference between groups (total score out of 30) was explored at 48 weeks.
48 weeks
UMSARS Part IV
Time Frame: Score at 48 Weeks
The UMSARS Part 4 measures global disability (1 item) scored from 1 (completely independent) to 5 (totally dependent and helpless. Bedridden).
Score at 48 Weeks
Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II)
Time Frame: 48 weeks
The BDI-II is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure the severity of depression symptomatology (scored out of 0-63 points). A score of 13 or less indicated minimal, 14-19 indicated mild, 20-28 indicated moderate and 29-63 indicated severe depression. The difference between groups was explored at 48 weeks.
48 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University College, London

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 16, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
March 22, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
March 22, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 29, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
June 11, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
June 16, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
June 27, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
June 18, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 125591
  • 2020-000122-26 (EudraCT Number)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Anonymised data will be made available from those patients who have provided consent to do so, following completion of trial data analysis, for any reasonable requests.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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