NMDA Antagonists in Bipolar Depression

The purpose of this study is to test whether ketamine and D-cycloserine can be safely and effectively used for the treatment of depression. The investigators hypothesize that ketamine will serve as a rapid acting and safe antidepressant in patients with bipolar depression, and furthermore, that D-cycloserine will serve as an effective therapy following ketamine treatment.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Bipolar Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Standard of Care; Drug: Ketamine; Drug: D-cycloserine

Detailed Description

Bipolar disorder affects 2% of the population in the United States and the depressive phase contributes disproportionally to morbidity and mortality. At present, few approved treatments for bipolar depression are available, and have primarily depended on manipulations of brain monoaminergic systems. In contrast, recent studies suggest that the N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate-receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, ketamine, may provide near-immediate relief for treatment resistant depression. Its utility during long-term treatment, however, is limited by its psychotomimetic potency and the need for repeated IV infusions. D-cycloserine (DCS) is an approved oral antibiotic for tuberculosis drug and a well-studied mixed agonist/antagonist at the NMDAR/glycine binding site. DCS showed preliminary evidence of efficacy in a pilot study. DCS would thus be practical from both a safety and route of administration perspective. The present study will explore the feasibility and safety of DCS for maintenance treatments, as measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 8
• Phase: Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10032
      • New York State Psychiatric Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 60 years (ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Male and female patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Version 4 (DSM-IV) diagnosis of bipolar disorder I or II, current major depressive episode without psychotic features, 18-60
• Insufficient therapeutic response during the current episode
• Medically stable for study participation
• Judged clinically not to be at significant suicide or violence risk
• Subject is off all psychotropic and other types of drugs likely to interact with glutamate for at least 14 days before starting the study. One exception is chloral hydrate or short acting benzodiazepines for distressing anxiety or insomnia (up to 72 hours prior to each MRI scan). In addition, subjects will be off antipsychotics for 1 month and off fluoxetine for 6 weeks prior to the study.
• Subject is likely to be able to tolerate a medication washout. Only subjects who have failed their current medication regiment will be washed off medications.

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of chronic psychosis or drug induced psychosis of any kind
• Current DSM-IV diagnosis of drug abuse/dependence in the last six months. Subjects must have a negative drug screen at baseline.
• Women will be excluded if they are pregnant lactating, or not either surgically-sterile or using appropriate methods of birth control. Women must agree to continue using applicable birth control throughout the trial. All women of child-bearing potential must have a negative urine pregnancy test
• Taking any medication contraindicated with ketamine or DCS (ethionamide, isoniazid)
• History of seizures, renal insufficiency or congestive heart failure
• History of clinically significant violence
• History of ketamine abuse/dependence or prior clinically significant adverse reaction to ketamine
• Current alcohol abuse or dependence
• Untreated hypertension
• Clinically abnormal liver function tests (LFTs), thyroid, renal function or anemia
• Metal implants, pacemaker, other metal (e.g. shrapnel or surgical prostheses) or paramagnetic objects contained within the body which may present a risk to the subject or interfere with the MR scan.
• Medicinal patch, unless removed prior to the MR scan

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
• Allocation: NA
• Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

EXPERIMENTAL: Ketamine and DCS treatment; Standard of Care: Subjects will receive treatment with either quetiapine, olanzapine-fluoxetine, or lurasidone. If after about 2 week, subjects are symptomatic, subjects will receive infusion of ketamine hydrochloride (0.5 mg/kg). After the ketamine phase, subject who show improvement will begin an 8-week treatment of oral D-cycloserine.

Drug: Standard of Care; Quetiapine, olanzapine-fluoxetine, and lurasidone are approved treatments for bipolar depression. Quetiapine dosing will follow the product label(Anon), and will be titrated over the first 4 days to the target dose of 300 mg. Olanzapine-fluoxetine dosing will also follow standard guidelines. Lurasidone will be started at 20 mg, and titrated up to 60 mg daily as clinically indicated. Study physicians will use clinical judgment to choose between standard-of care treatments, and have the option to titrate standard-of-care within approved ranges, and to prescribe adjunctive benztropine and benzodiazepines if clinically indicated.; Other Names: fluoxetine; Quetiapine; Olanzapine; Drug: Ketamine; Ketamine administration will be carried out according to the methods as described by previous studies. Subjects will receive ketamine hydrochloride (0.5 mg/kg) intravenously during 40 minutes. This dosage was selected based on previous trials of ketamine for the treatment of refractory depression and bipolar depression. Vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate) will be closely monitored throughout the time of infusion. Subjects will be evaluated for 2 consecutive days during this phase; i.e. treatment days (day 1) and rating days (day 2). Non-responders to ketamine will not proceed into the DCS phase. Response will be a 25% improvement on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS).; Other Names: Ketamine Hydrochloride; Drug: D-cycloserine; Immediately after the ketamine infusion, subjects will begin an eight-week treatment of DCS adjunctive to standard of care. DCS dosing will begin at 250 mg for three days→500mg (2 capsules)/day for 1 week → 750 mg (3 capsules)/day for 1 week → and 1000 mg (4 capsules)/day for the remainder of the study.; Other Names: DCS

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D)	Depression rating scale: Range 0-53, higher scores indicate worse depression. 0-7 = Normal 8-13 = Mild Depression 14-18 = Moderate Depression 19-22 = Severe Depression ≥ 23 = Very Severe Depression	8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Loss of Motivated Behavior HAM-D Factor	includes the total of four HAM-D items: (Item 7: Work and activities, Item 12. Somatic symptoms (appetite), Item 14. Genital symptoms (libido), and Item 16. Weight loss). Range 0-11, higher scores indicate worse symptoms	8 weeks
HAM-D Suicide Item	Ham-D suicide item: range 0-4, higher scores indicate worse symptoms	8 weeks
Hamilton Anxiety Scale	Each item is scored on a scale of 0 (not present) to 4 (severe), with a total score range of 0-56, where <17 indi- cates mild severity, 18-24 mild to moderate severity and 25-30 moderate to severe.	8 weeks
Beck's Depression Inventory	Range 0-63, with higher scores worse. Total score of 0-13 is considered minimal range, 14-19 is mild, 20-28 is moderate, and 29-63 is severe.	8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: New York State Psychiatric Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Joshua T Kantrowitz, MD, New York State Psychiatric Institute

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: March 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): July 1, 2014
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): March 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 12, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 16, 2013
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): April 17, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE): June 1, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 25, 2016
• Last Verified: March 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Bipolar Disorder
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Bipolar and Related Disorders; Bipolar Disorder; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Neurotransmitter Agents; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Anti-Infective Agents; Central Nervous System Depressants; Autonomic Agents; Peripheral Nervous System Agents; Enzyme Inhibitors; Analgesics; Sensory System Agents; Anesthetics, Dissociative; Anesthetics, Intravenous; Anesthetics, General; Anesthetics; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; Excitatory Amino Acid Agents; Antimetabolites; Antiemetics; Gastrointestinal Agents; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antipsychotic Agents; Tranquilizing Agents; Psychotropic Drugs; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors; Neurotransmitter Uptake Inhibitors; Membrane Transport Modulators; Serotonin Agents; Antidepressive Agents; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors; Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2D6 Inhibitors; Antitubercular Agents; Antibiotics, Antitubercular; Anti-Infective Agents, Urinary; Renal Agents; Ketamine; Olanzapine; Quetiapine Fumarate; Fluoxetine; Cycloserine
• Other Study ID Numbers: 6535