A Study of Ketamine in Patients With Treatment-resistant Depression

A Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Parallel Group, Dose Frequency Study of Ketamine in Subjects With Treatment-resistant Depression

The purpose of this study is to explore the optimal dose frequency of ketamine in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Major Depressive Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Placebo; Drug: Ketamine

Detailed Description

This is a double-blind (patients and study personnel do not know the identity of the administered treatments), randomized (the drug is assigned by chance), placebo-controlled (placebo is a substance that appears identical to the treatment and has no active ingredients), parallel arm study (each group of patients will be treated at the same time). The study will consist of a screening phase of up to 4 weeks, a 4-week double-blind treatment phase (Day 1 to Day 29), and a 3-week post treatment (follow up) phase. In the double-blind phase, patients will receive over 4 weeks either intravenous (IV) infusions of placebo (2 or 3 times weekly) or IV infusions of ketamine (2 or 3 times weekly). The total study duration for each patient will be a maximum of 13 weeks.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 68
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Alabama
    • Birmingham, Alabama, United States
  • Arkansas
    • Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
  • Colorado
    • Centennial, Colorado, United States
  • Connecticut
    • Hartford, Connecticut, United States
    • New Haven, Connecticut, United States
  • Georgia
    • Atlanta, Georgia, United States
  • Maryland
    • Rockville, Maryland, United States
  • New Jersey
    • Marlton, New Jersey, United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States
  • South Carolina
    • Charleston, South Carolina, United States
  • Texas
    • Dallas, Texas, United States
  • Utah
    • Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 64 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Be medically stable on the basis of clinical laboratory tests performed at screening
• Meet diagnostic criteria for recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD), without psychotic features
• Have a history of inadequate response, ie treatment was not successful, to at least 1 antidepressant
• Have an Inventory of Depressive Symptoms-Clinician rated, 30 item (IDS-C30) total score >= 40 at screening and predose at Day 1
• Inpatient or agreed to be admitted to the clinic on each dosing day

Exclusion Criteria:

• Has uncontrolled hypertension
• Has a history of, or current signs and symptoms of diseases, infections or conditions that in the opinion of the investigator, would make participation not be in the best interest (eg, compromise the well-being) of the patient or that could prevent, limit, or confound the protocol-specified assessments
• Has known allergies, hypersensitivity, or intolerance to ketamine or its excipients
• Is unable to read and understand the consent forms and patient reported outcomes, complete study-related procedures, and/or communicate with the study staff

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Placebo 3 times/week	Drug: Placebo; Form= intravenous infusion, route= intravenous (IV) use. IV infusions of placebo 2 times weekly or IV infusions of placebo 3 times weekly.
Experimental: Ketamine 3 times/week	Drug: Ketamine; Type= exact number, unit= mg/kg, number= 0.5, form= intravenous infusion, route= intravenous (IV) use. IV infusions of ketamine 0.50 mg/kg, 2 times weekly or IV infusions of ketamine 0.50 mg/kg, 3 times weekly.
Experimental: Ketamine 2 times/week	Drug: Ketamine; Type= exact number, unit= mg/kg, number= 0.5, form= intravenous infusion, route= intravenous (IV) use. IV infusions of ketamine 0.50 mg/kg, 2 times weekly or IV infusions of ketamine 0.50 mg/kg, 3 times weekly.
Placebo Comparator: Placebo 2 times/week	Drug: Placebo; Form= intravenous infusion, route= intravenous (IV) use. IV infusions of placebo 2 times weekly or IV infusions of placebo 3 times weekly.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) Total Score From Baseline to Day 15	The MADRS is a clinician-rated scale designed to measure depression severity and detects changes due to antidepressant treatment. The test consists of 10 items, each of which is scored from 0 (item not present or normal) to 6 (severe or continuous presence of the symptoms), for a total score of 60. Higher scores represent a more severe condition.	Baseline (Day 1) and Day 15

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) Total Score From Baseline to Day 29	The MADRS is a clinician-rated scale designed to measure depression severity and detects changes due to antidepressant treatment. The test consists of 10 items, each of which is scored from 0 (item not present or normal) to 6 (severe or continuous presence of the symptoms), for a total score of 60. Higher scores represent a more severe condition.	Baseline (Day 1) and Day 29
Number of Responders Based on Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) Total Score	Participants with a reduction in the MADRS total score of greater than or equal to (>=) 50 percent from baseline were defined as responders. The MADRS is a clinician-rated scale designed to measure depression severity and detects changes due to antidepressant treatment. The test consists of 10 items, each of which is scored from 0 (item not present or normal) to 6 (severe or continuous presence of the symptoms), for a total score of 60. Higher scores represent a more severe condition.	Day 15 and Day 29
Number of Remitters Based on Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) Total Score	Participants who had a MADRS total score of less than or equal to (<=) 10 were considered remitters. The MADRS is a clinician-rated scale designed to measure depression severity and detects changes due to antidepressant treatment. The test consists of 10 items, each of which is scored from 0 (item not present or normal) to 6 (severe or continuous presence of the symptoms), for a total score of 60. Higher scores represent a more severe condition.	Day 15 and Day 29
Number of Sustained Responders Based on Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) Total Score	Sustained response on Day 15 was defined as achieving an onset of antidepressant response within the first week that is maintained to the end of study Day 15. The MADRS is a clinician-rated scale designed to measure depression severity and detects changes due to antidepressant treatment. The test consists of 10 items, each of which is scored from 0 (item not present or normal) to 6 (severe or continuous presence of the symptoms), for a total score of 60. Higher scores represent a more severe condition.	Day 15
Change in Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) Score From Baseline to Endpoint (Day 29)	The CGI-S was used to rate the severity of the participants illness at the time of assessment, relative to the clinician's past experience with participants who had the same diagnosis and improvement with treatment. Considering total clinical experience, a participant was assessed on severity of mental illness at the time of rating according to: 0= not assessed; 1=normal (not at all ill); 2=borderline mentally ill; 3=mildly ill; 4=moderately ill; 5=markedly ill; 6=severely ill; 7=among the most extremely ill participants.	Baseline (Day 1) and Endpoint (Day 29)
Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (CGI-I) Score at Endpoint of Double Blind Phase	The CGI-I is a 7-point scale that was used to assess how much the participants illness was improved or worsened relative to a baseline state at the beginning of the intervention and rated as: 0= not assessed; 1=very much improved; 2=much improved; 3=minimally improved; 4=no change; 5=minimally worse; 6=much worse; 7=very much worse.	Endpoint (Day 29)
Change in Patient Global Impression-Severity (PGI-S) Score From Baseline to Endpoint (Day 29)	The PGI-S is an 11-point (0 to 10) scale that required the participant to rate the severity of their illness at the time of assessment, relative to the participants past experience. Considering their total experience, the participant was to assess the severity of their depression illness at the time of rating as none, mild, moderate or severe. The scale is rated as, 0=very well and 10=very poor.	Baseline (Day 1) and Endpoint (Day 29)
Patient Global Impression-Change (PGI-C) Score at Endpoint of Double Blind Phase	The PGI-C is a 7-point scale that required the subject to assess how much their illness had improved or worsened relative to a baseline state at the beginning of the intervention. The response options were: very much improved; much improved; improved (just enough to make a difference); no change; worse (just enough to make a difference); much worse; or very much worse. The scale is rated as, 1=very much improved and 7=very much worse.	Endpoint (Day 29)
Maximum Observed Plasma Concentration (Cmax) of Ketamine	The Cmax is the maximum observed plasma concentration of drug.	Pre-infusion, 20, 40 (End of the Infusion), 45, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 minutes post-infusion on Day 1 and Day 15
Time to Reach Maximum Observed Plasma Concentration (Tmax) of Ketamine	The Tmax is defined as actual sampling time to reach maximum observed drug concentration.	Pre-infusion, 20, 40 (End of the Infusion), 45, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 minutes post-infusion on Day 1 and Day 15
Area Under the Plasma Concentration-Time Curve From Time Zero to Last Quantifiable Time (AUC[0-last])	The AUC(0-last) is the area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to last quantifiable time.	Pre-infusion, 20, 40 (End of the Infusion), 45, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 minutes post-infusion on Day 1 and Day 15
Area Under the Plasma Concentration-Time Curve From Time Zero to Infinite Time (AUC[0-infinity])	The AUC (0-infinity) is the area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to infinite time, calculated as the sum of AUC (last) and C(last)/lambda(z); wherein AUC(last) is area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to last quantifiable time, C(last) is the last observed quantifiable concentration, and lambda(z) is elimination rate constant.	Pre-infusion, 20, 40 (End of the Infusion), 45, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 minutes post-infusion on Day 1 and Day 15
Total Systemic Clearance (CL) of Ketamine	The CL is a quantitative measure of the rate at which a drug substance is removed from the body.	Pre-infusion, 20, 40 (End of the Infusion), 45, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 minutes post-infusion on Day 1 and Day 15
Volume of Distribution at Steady-State (Vss) of Ketamine	The Vss is defined as the theoretical volume in which the total amount of drug would need to be uniformly distributed to produce the desired serum concentration of ketamine at steady state.	Pre-infusion, 20, 40 (End of the Infusion), 45, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 minutes post-infusion on Day 1 and Day 15
Elimination Half-Life (t1/2)	The elimination half-life (t1/2) is the time measured for the plasma concentration to decrease by 1 half to its original concentration. It is associated with the terminal slope of the semi logarithmic drug concentration-time curve, and is calculated as 0.693/lambda(z).	Pre-infusion, 20, 40 (End of the Infusion), 45, 50, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240 and 360 minutes post-infusion on Day 1 and Day 15

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Janssen Research & Development, LLC
• Investigators: Study Director: Janssen Research & Development, LLC Clinical Trial, Janssen Research & Development, LLC

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Lewis S, Romano C, De Bruecker G, Murrough JW, Shelton R, Singh JB, Jamieson C. Analysis of Clinical Trial Exit Interview Data in Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression. Patient. 2019 Oct;12(5):527-537. doi: 10.1007/s40271-019-00369-8.
• Johnson KM, Devine JM, Ho KF, Howard KA, Saretsky TL, Jamieson CA. Evidence to Support Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale Administration Every 24 Hours to Assess Rapid Onset of Treatment Response. J Clin Psychiatry. 2016 Dec;77(12):1681-1686. doi: 10.4088/JCP.15m10253.

Helpful Links

• A Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Parallel Group, Dose Frequency Study of Ketamine in Subjects With Treatment-resistant Depression

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 6, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 12, 2013
• Study Completion (Actual): September 12, 2013

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 22, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 22, 2012
• First Posted (Estimated): June 26, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 29, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 25, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Ketamine; Major depressive disorder; Treatment-resistant depression
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Behavioral Symptoms; Mood Disorders; Depression; Depressive Disorder; Depressive Disorder, Major; Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Peripheral Nervous System Agents; Anesthetics; Central Nervous System Depressants; Sensory System Agents; Analgesics; Neurotransmitter Agents; Anesthetics, Intravenous; Anesthetics, General; Excitatory Amino Acid Agents; Anesthetics, Dissociative; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; Ketamine
• Other Study ID Numbers: CR100886; KETIVTRD2002 (Other Identifier: Janssen Research & Development, LLC)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes