Guselkumab in the Treatment of Adults With Pyoderma Gangrenosum (PG) (GEORGE)

March 4, 2026 updated by: Alex Ortega Loayza, Oregon Health and Science University

A Single-arm Open-label Study Assessing Short-term (Week 6, 16) and Long-term (Week 32) Efficacy of Guselkumab in Adult Participants With Pyoderma Gangrenosum

A single-arm open-label study assessing short-term (week 6, 16) and long-term (week 32) efficacy of guselkumab in adult participants with pyoderma gangrenosum (PG)

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This is a Phase II study that will be open label and include a total of 17 patients who will receive the investigational product. PG will be defined by the investigator on the basis of results from clinical, histological and laboratory assessments. These patients will undergo 28 weeks of guselkumab dosed every 4 weeks and a stable dose of prednisone dosed daily with follow-up until week 40.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

17

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Alex G Ortega-Loayza, MD, MCR
  • Phone Number: 503-418-3376
  • Email: ortegalo@ohsu.edu

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Ohio
      • Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43215
        • Recruiting
        • Ohio State Dermatology
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Benjamin Kaffenberger, MD
        • Contact:
    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97239
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Oregon Health and Science University
        • Contact:
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Willingness to comply with study procedures/requirements
  • Capable of giving informed consent
  • Diagnosis of at least one PG ulcer by clinical, histological and laboratory assessments with a minimum wound size of 4 cm2.
  • Undergoing at least once a week standard of care wound care at home or at a wound care facility
  • Are candidate for systemic therapy. Must be on a stable dose of prednisone of 20 mg/day for at least two weeks prior to first drug administration.
  • Males ages 18-99 who agree to not father a child or donate sperm while on study and at least 12 weeks following last dose of the study drug. If subject is sexually active male and could cause pregnancy, subject much be sure that female partner(s) are using birth control that works well or not have sex.
  • Females ages 18-99; either of non-childbearing potential or of childbearing potential who test negative for pregnancy and agree to use at least two reliable methods of birth control or remain abstinent during the study for at least 12 weeks following the last dose of guselkumab.
  • Willingness to travel to study site for all study visits or living >30 miles from study site and willing/able to participate in remote videoconferencing visits with access to a computer with internet and webcam capabilities.
  • Be willing to undergo perilesional and non-lesional skin biopsy at week 0 and week 32 resulting in 4 biopsies during the course of the study. Participants can choose if they are willing to provide 2 additional biopsies at week 16. Refusal to give consent for any of the optional research samples does not exclude participant from participation in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Has previously received at any time any therapeutic agent directly targeted to IL-23 including, but not limited to, guselkumab, risankizumab, tildrakuzumab, or mirikizumab

  • Any drug treatment specifically for PG including but not limited to biologics (or biosimilar of), experimental antibodies, small molecules and oral immunosuppressives used within washout periods specified below, prior to first dose of study drug:

    1. 12 weeks for ustekinumab, ixekizumab, secukinumab, brodalumab;
    2. 8 weeks for infliximab;
    3. 6 weeks for adalimumab;
    4. 4 weeks for cyclosporine A, etanercept, inhibitors of the JAK/TYK pathway and PD4 inhibitors;
    5. 2 weeks for Calcineurin inhibitor topicals (including but not limited to pimecrolimus and tacrolimus) and other advanced topicals (including but not limited to roflumilast and tapinarof).

If not specified specifically, a time of 4 weeks or 5 half-lives of the drug (whichever is longer) prior to first drug administration.

  • Intralesional corticosteroids within 4 weeks of screening.
  • Active clinically infected ulcers. Individuals will be eligible for enrollment following completed treatment and resolution of infection. Antibiotics for wound superinfection are allowed.
  • Immunomodulating medications for managing underlying comorbidities associated with PG, but not PG itself (e.g., for irritable bowel disease (IBD) or rheumatoid arthritis), are allowed as combination therapy except for Methotrexate (MTX) and Leflunomide which are allowed individually but not in combination.
  • Concurrent skin disease that is deemed to interfere with assessment of ulcer.
  • Have signs or symptoms suggestive of possible lymphoproliferative disease, including lymphadenopathy or splenomegaly or a history of lymphoproliferative disease within 5 years before screening; or currently has a known malignancy or has a history of malignancy within 5 years before screening, with the exception of a nonmelanoma skin cancer that has been adequately treated with no evidence of recurrence for at least 3 months before the first study drug administration or cervical carcinoma in situ that has been treated with no evidence of recurrence for at least 3 months before the first study drug administration.
  • Recent (within past 6 months) cerebrovascular accident, myocardial infarction, coronary stenting. Uncontrolled hypertension - confirmed systolic blood pressure >160 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure >100 mm Hg.
  • Clinically significant (per investigator's judgement) drug or alcohol abuse within the last 6 months preceding the Baseline Visit.
  • Has not fully recovered from major surgery (e.g., requiring general anesthesia and hospitalization) within 8 weeks before screening, or has such surgery planned during the time the participant is expected to participate in the study (40 weeks) which in the opinion of the investigator would pose an unacceptable risk to the subject.
  • Presence of significant uncontrolled respiratory, hepatic, renal, endocrine, hematologic, neurologic, or neuropsychiatric disorders, or abnormal laboratory screening values that, in the opinion of the investigator, pose an unacceptable risk to the subject if participating in the study or of interfering with the interpretation of the data.
  • Have clinical laboratory test results at screening that are outside the normal reference range of the population and are considered clinically significant, or have any of the following specific abnormalities: Neutrophil count <1500 cells/µL, Lymphocyte count <500 cells/µL, Platelet count <100,000 cells/µL, AST or ALT or alkaline phosphatase > 2 times the upper limit of normal, Hemoglobin <10 g/dL, Serum creatinine ≥1.5 mg/dL (SI: ≤137 μmol/L), White blood cells <3500 cells/ µL
  • Participant has known allergies, hypersensitivity, or intolerance to guselkumab or its excipients.
  • Individuals who are pregnant, lactating or breastfeeding.
  • History of chronic or recurrent infections, or active, untreated, acute infection, or immunocompromised to an extent that participation in the study would pose an unacceptable risk to the subject based on the investigator's clinical assessment.
  • Clinically serious infection or received intravenous antibiotics for an infection, within 8 weeks before first dose.
  • Have signs or symptoms suggestive of active Tuberculosis (TB) upon medical history and/or physical examination. An exception is made for participants who are currently receiving treatment or will initiate treatment for latent TB prior to first administration of study intervention. For participants with a history of treated latent TB there must be documentation of appropriate treatment prior to the first administration of study intervention.
  • Positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), active hepatitis B virus, or hepatitis C virus. A positive Hepatitis B surface antibody test with a corresponding negative hepatitis B surface antigen test indicates immunity to the disease and will not be exclusionary.
  • Symptomatic herpes zoster infection within 12 weeks of screening or recurrent or disseminated (even a single episode) herpes zoster.
  • Symptomatic herpes simplex or disseminated (even a single episode) herpes simplex at the Week 0 (baseline) visit.
  • History of disseminated opportunistic infections (e.g., listeriosis and histoplasmosis).
  • Have received a live vaccine within 12 weeks prior to baseline or intend to have a live vaccine during the course of the study or 4 weeks after last study drug administration or 12 weeks after last study drug administration for Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine.
  • Have any other condition that precludes the subject from following and completing the protocol, in the opinion of the investigator.
  • Are investigator site personnel directly affiliated with this study and/or their immediate families (spouse, parent, child, or sibling).
  • Are currently enrolled in, or discontinued from a clinical trial involving an investigational product or non-approved use of a drug or device within the last 4 weeks or a period of at least 5 half-lives of the last administration of the drug, whichever is longer, or concurrently enrolled in any other type of medical research judged not to be scientifically or medically compatible with this study.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Guselkumab for PG
Subjects with PG will be treated with 100 mg every 4 weeks of guselkumab for 28 weeks in addition to starting stable dose (at least 2 weeks) of prednisone at 20 mg daily. Prednisone will be tapered based on a pre-established algorithm assessed by investigator.
Drug: Guselkumab
Subjects with PG will be treated with 100 mg in a pre-filled syringe to be injected subcutaneously every 4 weeks for 28 weeks.
Other Names:
  • Tremfya

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Healing
Time Frame: Week 32
Defined as the proportion of patients with complete re-epithelization, defined as a100% re-epithelialization without any drainage of the target ulcer at week 32.
Week 32

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Physician Global Assessment (PGA)
Time Frame: Week 32

Assessing the proportion of patients that show target ulcer healing in response to study treatment as measured by achieving PGA between 0 and 1 after treatment with guselkumab at week 32. This scale has been used in previous trials:

0 = total resolution of target ulcer with no signs of active PG

1= almost completely healed target ulcer with only minimal signs of active PG 2 = evidence of target ulcer healing which involves at least 50% of ulcer/ulcer margin 3 = evidence of target ulcer healing which involves less than 50% of ulcer/margin 4 = no evidence of target healing ulcer
Week 32
Decrease in ulcer area size long-term
Time Frame: Week 32
The proportion of patients with decrease in ulcer area size of at least 50% after treatment at week 32
Week 32
Decrease in ulcer area size short-term
Time Frame: Week 16
The proportion of patients with decrease in ulcer area size of at least 50% after treatment at Week 16
Week 16
Mean decrease in ulcer area size short-term
Time Frame: Week 16
Mean decrease in ulcer area size from Week 0 to Week 16
Week 16
Mean decrease in ulcer area size long-term
Time Frame: Week 32
Mean decrease in ulcer area size from Week 0 to Week 32
Week 32
Skin pain scale improvement over 7 days
Time Frame: Week 0 to 32
The proportion of participants achieving a minimum of a 2 point decrease in the NRS at Week 0 and Week 32 The pain NRS is a subject-administered, 11-point horizontal scale anchored at 0 and 10, with 0 representing "no pain" and 10 representing "worst pain imaginable" in the last 7 days.
Week 0 to 32
Target ulcer remains healed
Time Frame: Week 40
The proportion of participants with target ulcer that remains healed by Week 40
Week 40
Time to recurrence
Time Frame: Week 40
Time to recurrence defined as the duration of time from documented target lesion healing and further episodes of PG at any site.
Week 40
Treatment failure
Time Frame: Week 32
The number of participants experiencing treatment failure.
Week 32
Skindex Mini
Time Frame: Week 32
The Skindex Mini is a 3-item questionnaire, assessing symptom, emotion, and function related to skin disease. We will measure the mean change in Skindex Mini score from Week 0 to Week-32 will be reported with two-sided 95% confidence interval. Change in Skindex Mini score will be analyzed using a paired t-test with 0.05 significance level. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) methods will be further used to characterize changes in Skindex Mini score (max = 5, min = 0) over time. Higher scores indicated worsened quality of life due to skin disease.
Week 32
Skin pain scale improvement over 24 hours
Time Frame: Week 0 to 32
The proportion of participants achieving an improvement in reported peak pain Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) assessment at Week 0 and Week 32. The peak pain NRS assessment is a subject-administered, 11-point horizontal scale anchored at 0 and 10, with 0 representing "no pain" and 10 representing "worst pain imaginable" in the last 24 hours
Week 0 to 32
Change in physical function
Time Frame: Week 0 to 32
The mean change in participant physical function from Week 0 to Week 32. Physical function is a subject-administered 5 category scale that assesses the impact of PG on participant physical function from "with no difficulty" to "can't do because of ulcer".
Week 0 to 32
Mean change in global assessment score
Time Frame: Week 0 to 32
The mean change in participant global assessment from Week 0 to Week 32. The participant global assessment is a subject administered 5 category scale (ranging from "clear" to "severe" that measures participant perspective of the status of their skin disease.
Week 0 to 32

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Evaluation of cytokine gene expression
Time Frame: Week 0 and Week 32
Cytokine gene expression before and after treatment in skin, wound fluid, saliva and blood samples measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
Week 0 and Week 32

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Oregon Health and Science University

Collaborators

Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC
Ohio State University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Alex G Ortega-Loayza, MD, MCR, Oregon Health and Science University, Department of Dermatology

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 13, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 13, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 7, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 14, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

August 20, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 6, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 4, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Guselkumab for treatment of PG

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.

No

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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