A Trial of Folate With B12 in Patients With Schizophrenia With Residual Symptoms in Ethiopia

A Placebo-Controlled Trial of Folate With B12 in Patients With Schizophrenia With Residual Symptoms in Ethiopia

The investigators propose to conduct a randomized Sequential Parallel Design for Double-Blind Phase fixed dose, 4-month trial of folate plus B12 as add-on therapy in 200 Ethiopian subjects with schizophrenia with stable residual positive or negative symptoms.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Schizophrenia
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: placebo; Drug: folate with B12

Detailed Description

This is a 16-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Folate 2mg plus B12 400mcg, as an adjunctive therapy in approximately 240 consecutive outpatients with schizophrenia from Amanuel Hospital, which is based at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will be enrolled and screened for eligibility. The goal is to randomize and complete 200 subjects from the 240 enrolled. A Sequential Parallel Design for Double-Blind Phase will be utilized. During the first phase of double-blind adjunctive treatment, eligible patients (n=200) are randomized to adjunctive treatment with either folate and vitamin B12 (n=60) or placebo (n=150), with a 2:3:3 ratio for random assignment to the treatment sequences drug/drug (DD; n=70), placebo/placebo (PP; n=70), and placebo/drug (PD; n=75), while all continue to receive their antipsychotic agent for the entire duration of the study. Assuming a 10% drop-out rate during the first phase, 126 patients on placebo will complete the first 56-day phase, and 54 patients on folate and vitamin B12 will complete the first 56-day phase.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 200
• Phase: Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Ethiopia
  • Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
    • Amanuel Mental Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnosis of schizophrenia, any subtype
2. Male or female
3. Age 18-65 years
4. Treated with an antipsychotic for at least 6 months at a stable dose for at least 6 weeks
5. PANSS total score of at least 60, with at least a 3 (moderate) on one negative symptom item or on one positive symptom item.
6. No acute medical problems; any chronic medical condition (e.g. hypertension) consistently treated and stable during the 1 month prior to participation

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Unable to provide informed consent
2. Serum B12 concentration less than 300mcg/L; Complete Blood Count (CBC) results consistent with megaloblastic anemia
3. Serum creatinine concentration greater than 1.4
4. Current use of folate or B12 supplementation
5. Current use of any of the following medications: phenobarbital, phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproic acid, fosphenytoin, primidone or pyrimethamine; antimalarial drugs
6. Alcohol or other substance abuse within 3 months (nicotine allowed)
7. Subjects with a history of clinically significant neurological, metabolic, hepatic, renal, hematological, pulmonary, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and/or urological disorders (e.g. unstable angina, decompensated congestive heart failure, Central Nervous System (CNS) infection or history of HIV seropositivity), which would pose a risk to the patient if they were to participate in the study or that might confound the results of the study. Active medical conditions that are minor or well controlled are not exclusionary if they do not affect risk to the patient or the study results. For example, the following are not exclusionary: a) stable and well- controlled hypertension; b) asthma (no serious attacks in the past year)
8. Unstable psychiatric illness
9. Seizure disorder
10. Pregnancy or nursing

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: folate with B12; Subjects randomized to the folate with B12 group will take 1 capsule of 400mcg per day of folate with B12.	Drug: folate with B12
Placebo Comparator: placebo; Subjects randomized to the placebo group will take 1 capsule of placebo per day.	Drug: placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in symptoms of schizophrenia as measured by the change from baseline in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score	Examine the efficacy of a four-month trial of folate supplementation with B12 for potentially reducing symptoms of schizophrenia as measured by the change from baseline in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score	Baseline to Week 16

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in psychotic symptoms as measured by the PANSS psychosis subscale score	Examine the efficacy of folate supplementation with B12 for psychotic symptoms as measured by the PANSS psychosis subscale score	Baseline to Week 16
Change in negative symptoms as measured by the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS)	Examine the efficacy of folate supplementation with B12 for negative symptoms as measured by the modified Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) total score	Baseline to Week 16

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
• Collaborators: Addis Ababa University; Amanuel Mental Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Gregory Fricchione, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 7, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 8, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): November 9, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 15, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 14, 2018
• Last Verified: August 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders; Schizophrenia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2011P002667; 2011D003142 (Other Identifier: InfoEd proposal number)