The Efficacy of Low Dose Naltrexone Therapy in Children With Crohn's Disease (LDN-Ped)

September 4, 2018 updated by: Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

It is hypothesized that oral naltrexone will improve inflammation of the bowel by increasing endogenous enkephalin levels in subjects with active Crohn's disease. This is especially important in children who often are suffering from nutritional deprivation which retards their growth.

The key objectives are to:

  1. Evaluate the effects of low dose naltrexone in children with Crohn's Disease by using the Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (PCDAI), plasma inflammatory markers, weight, and pediatric quality of life survey.
  2. To determine the safety and toxicity of low dose naltrexone in pediatric subjects with active Crohn's Disease.
  3. Assess the potential mechanism by which naltrexone exerts its action by measuring plasma opioid (enkephalin and endorphin levels) and proinflammatory cytokines.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The present proposal is designed as double-blinded placebo controlled study involving 30 children between 6-17 years of age with active Crohn's disease. Children will be treated with either naltrexone or placebo for the first 8 weeks then all subjects will receive active naltrexone drug the last 8 weeks. A one month follow-up appointment will be scheduled 4-weeks after completion of the active drug for safety and to assess Crohn's activity. Low dose naltrexone (LDN) will be dispensed in either capsules at a dose of 4.5 mg for those ages 10 years or older and in liquid form at 0.1 mg/kg for those under age of 10 or less than 45 kg. Half of the subjects in the first 8 weeks will be randomized to placebo which will be either capsules filled with avicel (see section 6.0) or diluent (flavored water) if in liquid form. Children are eligible who are not of child-bearing potential or are using two means of effective birth control, have a Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (PCDAI) of at least 31 points, and have the confirmed diagnosis of Crohn's disease by either endoscopic or radiographic tests.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

14

Phase

  • 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 Locations

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, 17033
        • Penn State University Hershey Medical Center

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

6 years to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All subjects must give written informed consent by parent or guardian
  • Male or female subjects, > 6 - 17 years
  • Patients must have endoscopic or radiographic confirmed Crohn's Disease.
  • Patients must have a Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (PCDAI) of at least 31.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Adolescent women of childbearing potential and / or sexually active unless surgically sterile or using adequate contraception (either IUD, oral or deport contraceptive, or barrier plus spermicide), and willing and able to continue contraception for 3 months after the completion of the study.
  • Adolescent women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
  • Subjects with an ostomy or ileocolic anastomosis from surgery as these operations interfere with the PCDAI assessment
  • Subjects taking tacrolimus, cyclosporin, mycophenolate, or anti-TNF-α therapy must be discontinued 4 weeks prior to study initiation.
  • Patients with abnormal liver function tests
  • Prednisone greater than 10 mg or > 0.2 mg/kg orally

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: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Sugar pill
Subjects will receive placebo for for the first 8 weeks administered orally one time daily. After 8 weeks placebo treated subjects are then crossed over to active drug naltrexone 0.1 mg/kg not to exceed 4.5 mg PO once daily for an additional 8 weeks.
Other: Placebo, sugar pill
Placebo -Sugar pill or liquid identical to active drug in appearance and taste given by mouth at bedtime once daily
Other Names:
  • sugar pill
Experimental: Naltrexone
Naltrexone 0.1 mg/kg (not to exceed 4.5mg) once a day orally either in capsules or liquid blinded for 8 weeks followed by open-labeled naltrexone for an additional 8 weeks. Safety and toxicity will be compared to placebo. Also change in Crohn's activity index scores of naltrexone to placebo are compared.
Drug: Naltrexone
Naltrexone 0.1 mg/kg (not to exceed 4.5mg) once a day orally for 16 weeks
Other Names:
  • Revia, Vivitrol

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of Patients Reporting Side Effects
Time Frame: 8 weeks or 16 weeks
Using adverse events and laboratory values Safety & toxicity were evaluated between those on placebo for 8 weeks and those on naltrexone for either 8 or 16 weeks.
8 weeks or 16 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index Score (PCDAI)
Time Frame: Pretreatment and 8 weeks

Secondary outcome was efficacy on clinical activity. Mean pretreatment PCDAI scores in patients had moderate to severe disease activity at baseline were compared between those who received placebo for 8 weeks and those who received active experimental drug, naltrexone.

The PCDAI score is a number unit that is calculated from symptoms scores by the subject over a 7-day period prior to the visit, laboratory values, height & weight, and physical exam findings. A score of 10 and under denotes "remission". Mild disease (score of 11-30); moderate disease (score of 31-45), a severe disease (scores greater than 45. A decline of 10 points or more is considered "response to therapy". The score can range from 0 to >60 Patient must have a PCDAI score of equal or greater than 30 to qualify for this study (i.e., moderate to severe disease).
Pretreatment and 8 weeks
Change in Quality of Life Scores From Baseline to After 8 Weeks of Naltrexone Therapy
Time Frame: 16 weeks
IMPACT III was a pediatric Crohn's specific quality of life survey used in this study. It examines five major categories influencing the quality of life in children with Crohn's disease including bowel symptoms, systemic symptoms, emotional well-being, social well-being, and body image perception. The IMPACT-III uses 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5 for all answers. The outcome score ranges from 35 to 175, with higher scores suggesting better quality of life. So an increase in score denotes improved Quality of life.
16 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jill P Smith, MD, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

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

Helpful Links

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

July 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 14, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 14, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

July 15, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 6, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 4, 2018

Last Verified

May 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PSU-IRB-27793

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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