Amantadine for Improving Neurologic Symptoms in Ataxia-Telangiectasia

June 26, 2011 updated by: Sheba Medical Center

The Effect of Amantadine on Movement Disorder in Ataxia-Telangiectasia

Ataxia-Telangiectasia A-T is a neurodegenerative disorder of the cerebellum, manifesting with ataxia, as well as extrapyramidal features. Treatment of A-T is discouraging, since no treatment seems to change the course of disease, but improvement can be achieved by symptomatic treatment of the bothersome movement disorder . While various dopaminergic agents are occasionally used, reports of benefit are rather sparse and anecdotal. Amantadine, a well known drug used in influenza as well as movement disorder of Parkinson, has been proved to improve various other types of movement disorder as ataxia, chorea, dystonia, akinesia and attention span. The purpose of this study is to investigate weather amantadine sulphate improves ataxia and the movement disorder (bradykinesia, parkinsonism, dystonia, chorea), as well as the general well being in patients with A-T.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) is a complex multisystem disorder with neurodegenerative course, immune deficiency, and tendency to develop malignancies .The clinical picture includes progressive cerebellar ataxia along with a movement disorder (chorea, dystonia or bradykinesia) that may be even more disabling than the ataxia . Fatigability, drooling and reduced stamina are other major concerns. Disease course is devastating: towards the second decade of life the affected children are usually bound to wheelchair and survival beyond the second decade of life is rare. Treatment of A-T is discouraging, since no treatment seems to change the course of disease, but improvement can be achieved by symptomatic treatment of the bothersome movement disorder . While various dopaminergic agents are occasionally used, reports of benefit are rather sparse and anecdotal.

Amantadine is a dopaminergic agent approved for prophylaxis of influenza (in children over 1 year of age and adults) as well as for extrapyramidal disorders in adults: Parkinson disease and drug induced dyskinesias . Amantadine increases dopaminergic transmission by inhibiting its synaptic uptake, as well as an antagonizing the striatal NMDA receptors). Additional conditions found to be improved with amantadine are: cerebellar ataxia, vigilance after brain trauma in adults and children ,attention deficit disorder in children, chorea and akinesia in Huntington's disease .

Amantadine is an FDA approved drug for treatment and prevention of influenza, Parkinson disease and drug induced dyskinesia; it is approved for use in adults and children over 1 year of age.

Dosage in children: 5 mg/kg body weight up to 8.8mg/kg/. Dosage in adults: 200 to 300 mg/day. The daily dosage should be divided into 2 to 3 daily portions. Amantadine is a safe drug with mild side effects: headache, decreased appetite, sedation, fatigue, abdominal pain, vomiting, insomnia, pedal edema and rash (4-10).

Studies in children proved amantadine to be a safe and tolerable drug. Amantadine was administered to 24 healthy children with ADHD, aged 5-13 year old . Side effects were present in 13/24 and were usually mild: decreased appetite, headache, sedation, mild insomnia, vomiting, fatigue, abdominal pain. One subject dropped out because of headache. Six low response children after traumatic brain injury were treated with amantadine (concurrently with other medication) The drug was safe with relatively mild side effects: sedation, intermittent tremor, dizziness, but no serious side effects requiring discontinuation of the protocol.

Study purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate weather amantadine sulphate improves ataxia and the movement disorder (bradykinesia, parkinsonism, dystonia, chorea), as well as the general well being in patients with A-T.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

30

Phase

  • Phase 4

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

  • Israel
      • Ramat Gan, Israel
        • Sheba 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

4 years to 4 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • diagnosis of A-T
  • significant functional disability
  • age over 4 years

Exclusion Criteria:

  • major comorbidity: active malignancy requiring chemotherapy, kidney or liver failure
  • sexually active
  • known hypersensitivity to amantadine
  • previous treatment with amantadine in the 2 months preceding the study

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: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: amantadine (PKMERZ)
Drug: amantadine sulphate
amantadine 5/mg/kg for 2 month- tapered up during 2 weeks at 1 month possibility to increase dosage to 8 mg/kg or reduce it if there are side effects
Other Names:
  • PKMERZ

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
improvement in ataxia
Time Frame: 2 month
2 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
improvement in extrapyramidal movement disorder
Time Frame: 2 month
2 month

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Sheba Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Andreea Nissenkorn, MD, Sheba Medical Center, Pediatric Neurology and National A-T Clinic

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

November 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 30, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 30, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

July 31, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 28, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 26, 2011

Last Verified

June 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SHEBA-08-5196-AN-CTIL

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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