- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT01849016
N-Acetylcysteine in Patients With Sickle Cell Disease (NAC)
N-Acetylcysteine in Patients With Sickle Cell Disease - Reducing the Incidence of Daily Life Pain
The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the drug N-Acetylcysteine on the frequency of pain in daily life in patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD).
Pain is an invalidating hallmark of this disease and has a considerable impact on the Quality of Life of patients and the medical health care system. Oxidative stress is hypothesized to play a central role in its pathophysiology. In pilot studies the administration of N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) resulted in a reduction of oxidative stress. Moreover, administration of NAC seemed to decrease hospitalization for painful crises in a small pilot study in patients with SCD.
This study will be performed as a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial where patients will be treated with either NAC or placebo for a period of 6 months. The investigators expect that NAC can reduce the frequency of pain in patients with SCD, thereby improving their quality of life and participation in society.
Study Overview
Status
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Study Type
Enrollment (Actual)
Phase
- Phase 3
Contacts and Locations
Study Locations
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Brussels, Belgium
- Hopital Erasme
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Brussels, Belgium
- Hopital Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola (HUDERF)
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Brussels, Belgium
- CHU Brugmann
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Brussels, Belgium
- Chu St. Pierre
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Brussels, Belgium
- UCL St. Luc
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Liège, Belgium
- CHR de la Citadelle
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Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1105 AZ
- Academic Medical Center
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Groningen, Netherlands, 9713 GZ
- University Medical Center Groningen
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Rotterdam, Netherlands, 3015 AA
- Erasmus Medical Center
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The Hague, Netherlands, 2545 CH
- Haga Hospital
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London, United Kingdom
- Guys' & St. Thomas Hospital
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Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Genders Eligible for Study
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age 12 years or older
- Sickle cell disease, either homozygous sickle cell disease (HbSS), compound heterozygous sickle cell disease (HbSC), HbSβ0 or HbSβ+ thalassemia
- History of at least 1.0 painful crisis per year in the past 3 years (visit to medical facility is not required)
Exclusion Criteria:
- Chronic blood transfusion or transfusion in the preceding 3 months
- Painful crisis in the last 4 weeks (with respect to the moment of inclusion)
- Pregnancy, breast feeding or the desire to get pregnant in the following 7 months
- Known active gastric/duodenal ulcers
- Hydroxycarbamide (HC) treatment with unstable dose in the last 3 months or started on HC shorter then 6 months prior to study
- Known poor compliance in earlier trials regarding the completion of pain diaries
- Insufficient compliance in run-in period
- Known hypersensitivity to acetylcysteine or one of the other components of the study medication
- Use of pain medication for sickle-cell related pains on more than 15 days per month in the past 6 months ('chronic pain').
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Prevention
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: Quadruple
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
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Experimental: N-Acetylcysteine
N-Acetylcysteine 600mg 1 oral tablet twice daily during 6 months
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Other Names:
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Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Placebo 1 oral tablet twice daily during 6 months
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
The incidence rate of SCD related pain in daily life per patient year
Time Frame: 6 months
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The incidence of pain in daily life will be expressed as the number of pain days in relation to total follow-up time, and transformed to an event rate per patient year with a corresponding rate ratio and its 95% confidence interval. A pain day will be defined as:
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6 months
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Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
The severity of SCD related pain in daily life, using a 0-10 numerical rating scale (NRS) in the study pain diary.
Time Frame: 6 months
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The average intensity of pain indicated on pain days in daily life will be compared between the two groups.
The intensity of pain will be calculated as the average pain score over all pain days, using the highest scores indicated per day (either score over night or over day).
Hospital days will be excluded from the analysis, as these scores often have not been completed fully during admission and the analysis is targeted at pain in daily life.
Pain scores will be considered as continuous data with a normal distribution.
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6 months
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The incidence rate per patient year of painful crises (episodes, based on pain diary observation)
Time Frame: 6 months
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The number of patient-indicated painful crises in relation to total follow-up time will be transformed to an event rate per patient year, with a corresponding rate ratio and it's 95% confidence interval. Also, the average number of crisis days per patient in relation to total follow-up time will be evaluated (including hospital admission days, see below). A painful crisis will be defined as either (overlap is possible):
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6 months
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The incidence rate per patient year of days with painful crises (days, based on pain diary observation)
Time Frame: 6 months
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The number of days with patient-indicated painful crises in relation to total follow-up time will be transformed to an event rate per patient year, with a corresponding rate ratio and it's 95% confidence interval. A painful crisis will be defined as either (overlap is possible):
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6 months
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The severity of painful crises. This will be defined using a 0-10 numerical rating scale (NRS) in the pain diary.
Time Frame: 6 months
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The average intensity of pain indicated on crisis days in daily life will be compared between the two groups. The intensity of pain will be calculated as the average pain score over all crisis days, using the highest scores indicated per day (either score over night or over day). Hospital days will be excluded from the analysis, as these scores often have not been completed fully during admission and the analysis is targeted at pain in daily life. Pain scores will be considered as continuous data with a normal distribution. Painful crisis definition as above. |
6 months
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The incidence rate per patient year of hospital admissions
Time Frame: 6 months
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The number of sickle cell related hospital admissions in relation to total follow-up diary observation time will be transformed to an event rate per patient year, with a corresponding rate ratio and it's 95% confidence interval. Admissions will be verified using hospital medical records, if available. Hospital admission will be defined as: • Every visit to a hospital that lasted more than 4 hours for acute sickling-related disease, which was treated with orally or parenterally administered narcotics. |
6 months
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The incidence rate per patient year of hospital admission days
Time Frame: 6 months
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The number of sickle cell related hospital admission days in relation to total follow-up diary observation time will be transformed to an event rate per patient year, with a corresponding rate ratio and it's 95% confidence interval. Admissions will be verified using hospital medical records, if available. Hospital admission will be defined as: • Every visit to a hospital that lasted more than 4 hours for acute sickling-related disease, which was treated with orally or parenterally administered narcotics. |
6 months
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Time in days to first painful crisis (as defined above)
Time Frame: 6 months
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The time in days from randomization to first painful crisis (patient-defined) and hospital admission for painful crisis will be expressed in cumulative event rates, estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis.
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6 months
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Time in days to first hospital admission for painful crisis (as defined above)
Time Frame: 6 months
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The time in days from randomization to first painful crisis (patient-defined) and hospital admission for painful crisis will be expressed in cumulative event rates, estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis.
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6 months
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The health-related Quality of Life, as measured by use of validated questionnaires.
Time Frame: 6 months
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In adults this will be assessed with SF36-forms, a short-form health survey that has been proven to be valid and reliable in the black population.46
In children from 12 to 18 years old, we will use the PedsQL questionnaire, often used to assess quality of life in children, also validated in SCD patients
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6 months
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The SCD-related societal costs, assessed by a prospective cost-effectiveness analysis
Time Frame: 6 months
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The societal costs of pain care with the use of NAC, in the intervention group, will be compared to the societal costs of current pain care in the control group. Estimates of unit costs will be based on calculation of real costs of pain care. Generated direct medical costs will be recorded in the case record forms and by means of the Medical Cost Questionnaire (see appendix). Indirect costs arising from losses in productivity will be assessed by means of the Productivity Cost Questionnaire (see appendix) and will be calculated by means of the friction cost method. |
6 months
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The tolerability of NAC, defined as the number of participants with adverse events.
Time Frame: 6 months
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This will be assessed via the monthly adverse events reports.
The frequency of registered adverse events and/or a serious adverse events will be reported per treatment arm, and compared between the two intervention groups.
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6 months
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The incidence rate per patient year of use of home pain medication (based on pain diary observation). This information will be recorded by subjects in their daily pain diary, including type and dosage of pain medication.
Time Frame: 6 months
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The incidence rate of analgesic usage will be defined as the proportion of pain days with reported analgesic use on the total number of pain days (excluding observation days with no reported pain).
This proportion will be transformed to an event rate per patient year, with a corresponding rate ratio and it's 95% confidence interval.
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6 months
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Incidence of SCD complications.
Time Frame: 6 months
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The number of patients with sickle cell related complications (i.e. acute chest syndrome, stroke etc.) will be reported per treatment arm, and compared between the two intervention groups. The related incidence of SCD complications;
These complications will be assessed monthly by using hospital medical records. |
6 months
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The changes in blood markers of oxidative stress, hemolysis, hypercoagulability, inflammation, erythrocyte adhesion and endothelial dysfunction
Time Frame: 6 months
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6 months
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Compliance of study medication; proportion of study medication used based on pill counts.
Time Frame: 6 months
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Compliance of use of study medication will primarily be checked by pill counts (number administered versus number returned).
Compliance will be expressed as the proportion of tablets remaining, compared to the number of tablets that should have been taken based on a prescription of 2 tablets per day and the total number of observation days per patient.
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6 months
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Compliance of study medication; N-acetylcysteine plasma concentrations
Time Frame: 6 months
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We additionally aim to evaluate compliance by N-acetylcysteine plasma concentration measurements in blood samples drawn at T0, T3 and T6 in the intervention group, and assess mean change from baseline in the intervention group.
This outcome may be used as alternative parameter for patient compliance if pill counts do not suffice.
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6 months
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Collaborators and Investigators
Collaborators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Bart Biemond, MD, PhD, Academisch Medisch Centrum - Universiteit van Amsterdam (AMC-UvA)
- Principal Investigator: Karin Fijnvandraat, MD, PhD, Academisch Medisch Centrum - Universiteit van Amsterdam (AMC-UvA)
Publications and helpful links
General Publications
- Smith WR, Penberthy LT, Bovbjerg VE, McClish DK, Roberts JD, Dahman B, Aisiku IP, Levenson JL, Roseff SD. Daily assessment of pain in adults with sickle cell disease. Ann Intern Med. 2008 Jan 15;148(2):94-101. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-148-2-200801150-00004.
- Nur E, Brandjes DP, Schnog JJ, Otten HM, Fijnvandraat K, Schalkwijk CG, Biemond BJ; CURAMA Study Group. Plasma levels of advanced glycation end products are associated with haemolysis-related organ complications in sickle cell patients. Br J Haematol. 2010 Oct;151(1):62-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.2010.08320.x. Epub 2010 Jul 30.
- Nur E, Biemond BJ, Otten HM, Brandjes DP, Schnog JJ; CURAMA Study Group. Oxidative stress in sickle cell disease; pathophysiology and potential implications for disease management. Am J Hematol. 2011 Jun;86(6):484-9. doi: 10.1002/ajh.22012. Epub 2011 May 4.
- Nur E, Verwijs M, de Waart DR, Schnog JJ, Otten HM, Brandjes DP, Biemond BJ, Elferink RP; CURAMA Study Group. Increased efflux of oxidized glutathione (GSSG) causes glutathione depletion and potentially diminishes antioxidant defense in sickle erythrocytes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2011 Nov;1812(11):1412-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2011.04.011. Epub 2011 May 3.
- Nur E, Brandjes DP, Teerlink T, Otten HM, Oude Elferink RP, Muskiet F, Evers LM, ten Cate H, Biemond BJ, Duits AJ, Schnog JJ; CURAMA study group. N-acetylcysteine reduces oxidative stress in sickle cell patients. Ann Hematol. 2012 Jul;91(7):1097-105. doi: 10.1007/s00277-011-1404-z. Epub 2012 Feb 10.
- Pace BS, Shartava A, Pack-Mabien A, Mulekar M, Ardia A, Goodman SR. Effects of N-acetylcysteine on dense cell formation in sickle cell disease. Am J Hematol. 2003 May;73(1):26-32. doi: 10.1002/ajh.10321.
- Somjee SS, Warrier RP, Thomson JL, Ory-Ascani J, Hempe JM. Advanced glycation end-products in sickle cell anaemia. Br J Haematol. 2005 Jan;128(1):112-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.2004.05274.x.
- van Tuijn CF, van Beers EJ, Schnog JJ, Biemond BJ. Pain rate and social circumstances rather than cumulative organ damage determine the quality of life in adults with sickle cell disease. Am J Hematol. 2010 Jul;85(7):532-5. doi: 10.1002/ajh.21731. No abstract available.
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start
Primary Completion (Actual)
Study Completion (Actual)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Estimate)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Estimate)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
- Hematologic Diseases
- Genetic Diseases, Inborn
- Anemia
- Anemia, Hemolytic, Congenital
- Anemia, Hemolytic
- Hemoglobinopathies
- Anemia, Sickle Cell
- Physiological Effects of Drugs
- Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
- Anti-Infective Agents
- Antiviral Agents
- Protective Agents
- Respiratory System Agents
- Antioxidants
- Antidotes
- Free Radical Scavengers
- Expectorants
- Acetylcysteine
- N-monoacetylcystine
Other Study ID Numbers
- NAC trial
- 2012-004892-37 (EudraCT Number)
- 171201003 (Other Grant/Funding Number: ZonMw)
- NL 41205.018.12 (Other Identifier: Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (known by its Dutch initials, CCMO))
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Study Data/Documents
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Statistical Analysis Plan
Information identifier: Version 7.0 - 5/31/2016
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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