Use of a GLP-1R Agonist to Treat Opioid Use Disorder

This research is being done to find out if liraglutide (brand name is Saxenda®) can safely and effectively reduce craving for opioids in patients with opioid use disorder, a primary factor contributing to early relapse.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Opioid-Related Disorders; Opiate Substitution Treatment
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Liraglutide Pen Injector; Drug: Placebo

Detailed Description

The rationale for the proposed research is to develop an acute intervention that can improve treatment outcomes in opioid use disorder (OUD) by reducing craving, a primary factor contributing to early relapse. Although liraglutide was approved for human use in 2010, there are no data testing the effectiveness in patients with an OUD. The objective of the proposed research is to test whether treatment with a GLP-1R agonist can reduce craving in humans with OUD. Understanding how a 'satiety' agent may affect craving and brain responses to drug cues in an OUD population would provide entirely novel information. If liraglutide shows a trend towards efficacy, and safety of the GLP-1R agonist is demonstrated in this population, it would provide an indication to run the second phase, multi-center clinical trial of GLP-1R agonist in OUD patients.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 27
• Phase: Phase 2; Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, 17033
      • Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 18 to 75 years
• Diagnosed with an OUD seeking treatment at Caron Treatment Centers (CaronTC) and planning on being enrolled in a residential treatment plan for a minimum of 4 weeks
• Women of childbearing potential must consent to use a medically accepted method of birth control or to abstain from sexual intercourse while in the study
• Able and willing to provide informed consent prior to any study-related activities
• Must be able to read and communicate in English sufficiently to complete all study requirements, including Ecology Momentary Assessment (EMA)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age < 18 or > 75 years
• Women who are pregnant, planning pregnancy, breastfeeding, or unwilling to use adequate contraceptive measures
• History of angioedema, serious hypersensitivity reaction, or anaphylactic reaction to liraglutide or another glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R) agonist
• Personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) or patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2) or thyroid nodule
• Type I diabetes or history of diabetic ketoacidosis
• Type II diabetes mellitus
• Hypoglycemia on intake visit (blood glucose < 70 mg/dL)
• End-stage renal failure on dialysis or glomerular filtration rate (GFR) <30 mL/min per 1.73 square meters or previous renal transplant
• Severe hepatic impairment (AST or ALT levels > 3 times upper limit of normal range) or previous liver transplant
• Current or past diagnosis of pancreatitis, gastroparesis, or other severe gastrointestinal disease
• Current or past diagnosis of gallbladder disease or gallstones
• Serious cardiovascular disease within the past 6 months (e.g. uncontrolled hypertension, heart failure, significant cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, presence of angina pectoris, symptomatic coronary artery disease, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, second- or third-degree heart block, mitral valve or aortic stenosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, stroke)
• Severe co-occurring psychiatric disorder (e.g., bipolar disorder, psychotic disorder, schizophrenia) that would, in the opinion of the Principle Investigator or study physician, interfere with participating in the study, such as if the patient needs a higher or different level of care and is going to be transferred out of Caron.
• Suicidal ideation within the past 1 month, or history of suicide attempts within the past 1 year, unless participation is cleared by clinician assessment and/or judgement.
• Treatment with any investigational drug in the one-month preceding the study
• Previous randomization for participation in this trial
• Abnormal physical exam findings, vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature), EKG measurements, and safety lab values that are deemed clinically significant by study physician

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
Experimental: Investigational group; Participants randomized to liraglutide will be started at a low dose (0.6 mg once per day) which will be gradually increased until 1.8 mg/day is reached for the 3-dose intervention and 3 mg/day is reached for the 5-dose intervention. Liraglutide will be administered by injection pen.	Drug: Liraglutide Pen Injector; Liraglutide will be provided using an injection pen provided by the manufacturer; Other Names: Saxenda
Placebo Comparator: Control group; Participants in the control group will have placebo administered by injection pen following the same low dose titration to 3.0 mg once per day.	Drug: Placebo; Placebo injection pen

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Self-reported Cue-elicited Drug Craving as Measured by Visual Analog Scale (VAS)	Scores are measured on a 0-100 point VAS, where 0= no craving, 100= maximum craving.	Baseline (Day 1), End of the target drug dose (Day 19)
Change in Ambient Drug Craving Over Time as Measured by Visual Analog Scale (VAS)	Scores are measured on a 0-4 point VAS, where 0= no craving, 4= maximum craving.	Baseline (Day 1), Treatment Days (Days 2-19)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Blood Pressure	Blood pressure measurements in mmHg. Both systolic and diastolic pressures will be assessed during the study period.	Baseline (Day 1); beginning of each study drug dose (Days 2, 8, 14)
Change in Heart Rate	Heart rate measurements in beats per minute.	Baseline (Day 1); beginning of each study drug dose (Days 2, 8, 14)
Change in Respiratory Rate	Respiratory rate in breaths per minute.	Baseline (Day 1); beginning of each study drug dose (Days 2, 8, 14)
Absolute Change in Body Weight	Body weight will be measured in kilograms (kg).	From Day 1 to Day 19
Percent Change in Body Weight	Body weight will be measured in kilograms (kg) and change will measured in %.	From Day 1 to Day 19
Change in Fasting Blood Samples for Fructosamine	Fructosamine is measured in umol/L	From Day 2 to Day 19
Change in Fasting Blood Samples for HA1c	HA1c is measured in %	From Day 2 to Day 19
Frequency of Adverse Events (AE) and Serious Adverse Events (SAE)	Number of participants affected by probable drug-related adverse events.	Days 1-21 and at 30 days post-intervention (Day 49).

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Blood Oxygenation Level Response to Visual Opioid Drug Cues in Prefrontal Cortex Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRs)	fNIRs indexes regional cerebral oxygenation saturation (%) by optical density (OD). Increased OD indicates increased blood oxygen saturation.	Baseline (Day 1), end of the target drug dose (Day 19)
Rebound Change in Ambient Drug Craving Over Time as Measured by Visual Analog Scale (VAS)	Scores are measured on a 0-4 point VAS, where 0= no craving, 4= maximum craving. Treatment score is the average scores across Days 2-19. Rebound follow up score is the average scores across Days 20-21.	Treatment (averaged across Days 2-19), Rebound follow up (averaged across Days 20-21)
Rebound Change in Blood Pressure	Blood pressure measurements in mmHg. Both pressures will be assessed during the study period.	From end of the target drug dose (Day 19) to rebound follow up (Day 21).
Rebound Change in Heart Rate	Heart rate measurements in beats per minute	From end of the target drug dose (Day 19) to rebound follow up (Day 21).
Rebound Change in Respiratory Rate	Respiratory rate in breaths per minutes.	From end of the target drug dose (Day 19) to rebound follow up (Day 21).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Scott Bunce, PhD, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 18, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 13, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): September 13, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 12, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 12, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): December 16, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 6, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 1, 2024
• Last Verified: November 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Liraglutide; Opioid use disorder; Opiate treatment; Opioid treatment; Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Agonist
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Narcotic-Related Disorders; Mental Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Opioid-Related Disorders; Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Hypoglycemic Agents; Hormones; Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists; Incretins; Liraglutide
• Other Study ID Numbers: 13559; 1UG3DA050325-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: Yes