30-Day Trial of Oral Valtrex or Valtrex Plus Aspirin on Shedding of HSV DNA in Tears and Saliva of Volunteers

December 21, 2007 updated by: National Eye Institute (NEI)

A 30-Day Double-Masked Study to Determine the Effect of Oral Valacyclovir or Oral Valacyclovir Plus Aspirin on the Shedding of Herpes Simplex Virus DNA in the Tears and Saliva of Volunteers Without Clinical Signs of Ocular Herpetic Disease

The purpose of this study is to determine whether oral Valtrex alone or in combination with aspirin will reduce the shedding of herpes simplex virus DNA in the tears and saliva from volunteers with no evidence of ocular herpes infection. The secretion of virus into the tears and saliva might make people more susceptible to virus infection in the future if their immune system becomes deficient. The study will also try to determine if there is a correlation between shedding of viral DNA and herpes virus antibodies in serum and to determine if subjects are carriers of a special form of a gene in their blood cells, the presence of which may suggest the possibility of an increased susceptability to herpes and to Alzheimer's disease and heart disease.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Published studies have shown that treatment with oral acyclovir reduced clinical recurrences of ocular herpetic keratitis by about 40-50 %8, and treatment with valacyclovir, a more soluble prodrug of acyclovir, reduced the risk of transmission of genital herpes9, 10, 11. For this study, we will use the dose of valacyclovir that was shown effective in reducing the risk of transmission of HSV-2.9 The dose of 325 mg aspirin three times a day was chosen based on our experience with mice and other laboratory animals12. If it is effective and well tolerated at this dose, in future studies we will attempt to use lower doses and determine if they too may be effective.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

60

Phase

  • Phase 1

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 Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Louisiana
      • New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70112
        • Recruiting
        • LSU Eye Center
      • New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70118
        • Recruiting
        • Children's Hospital
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Herbert E Kaufman, MD

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

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • either sex
  • any race
  • over age of 21 years

Exclusion Criteria:

  • have active ocular herpetic lesion
  • had ocular herpetic lesion in past 30 days
  • taking systemic or oral antiviral drugs
  • have taken antiviral drugs in the past 30 days
  • taking aspirin or NSAIDs
  • have dry eyes
  • have hypersensitivity to acyclovir or valacyclovir
  • have hypersensitivity of contraindication to use of aspirin
  • have bleeding disorder
  • have GI ulcer
  • have kidney impairment
  • are pregnant or nursing
  • have participated in a clinical trial in the past 30 days

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1
placebo, 6 capsules per day for 30 days
Drug: placebo
lactose placebo capsule, six per day for 30 days
Experimental: 2
500 mg Valtrex one capsule per day plus 5 capsules of placebo per day for 30 days
Drug: valacyclovir hydrochloride
500 mg capsule, one per day for 30 days
Other Names:
  • Valtrex
Experimental: 3
500 mg Valtrex capsule one per day, Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) 325 mg capsules three per day, plus 2 placebo capsules per day for 30 days
Drug: valacyclovir plus aspirin
500 mg valacyclovir capsule, one per day for 30 days 325 mg acetyl salicylic acid (aspirin) capsule, three per day for 30 days placebo capsule, two per day for 30 days

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Cessation of DNA shedding above the positive detection threshold
Time Frame: 30 days
30 days

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

National Eye Institute (NEI)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Herbert E Kaufman, MD, LSU Eye Center, LSU Health Sciences Center

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

April 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

July 1, 2008

Study Completion (Anticipated)

July 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 21, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 21, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

January 7, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 7, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 21, 2007

Last Verified

December 1, 2007

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 6475
  • EY002672

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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