NCT01715051

D-Serine for Cocaine Dependence Pilot

A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of D-Serine for Cocaine Dependence

• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 0 (actual)
• Sponsor: Theresa Winhusen · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The primary objective of this study is to collect pilot data on the efficacy of D-serine, relative to placebo, as a cocaine dependence treatment. Secondary objectives include evaluating D-serine, relative to placebo, on: 1. safety in treating cocaine-dependent adults and 2. tolerability.

Detailed description

STUDY DESIGN. This is a 12 week, 2 group randomized controlled trial that will be completed in an outpatient setting. Eligible participants will be randomized to D-serine or matching placebo and will be scheduled to attend three research visits per week throughout the active treatment phase which begins with randomization and ends on day 7 of study week 12. A single visit will be scheduled in week 13 to complete retrospective data for week 12. Participants will receive D-serine or placebo throughout the 12-week active treatment phase. Randomization will be in a 1:1 ratio, stratified by cocaine use frequency (\<10 days or ≥ 10 days in the 28 days prior to consent). STUDY POPULATION. Approximately 80 participants recruited from a single site will be randomized. The study population will include adults who meet Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV-Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria for cocaine dependence who have used cocaine in the 30 days prior to consent and who provide at least one benzoylecgonine (BE) positive urine during screening/baseline. TREATMENTS. Study participants will be randomly assigned to receive either D-serine (target \~60 mg/kg per day) or matching placebo. All participants will receive once weekly manual-guided cognitive behavioral therapy during the 12 week treatment period. Medication adherence will be assessed with the Medication Events Monitoring System (MEMS). EFFICACY ASSESSMENTS. The primary outcome measure will be cocaine abstinence for three or more consecutive weeks, with abstinence during a week defined as self-report of no cocaine use during the week as well as negative urine BE (BE\<300 ng/mL) results during the week with at least two urine samples provided. Key secondary efficacy measures include the proportion of urine BE negative results obtained and cocaine abstinence during study weeks 11 and 12 as measured by self-report and urine BE. Other efficacy measures include drug attention bias, cocaine craving, drug compulsivity, cocaine withdrawal symptoms, and treatment retention. SAFETY ASSESSMENTS. Safety measures include urinalysis, adverse events (AEs), vitals, electrocardiogram (ECG), and laboratory tests. Tolerability will be assessed by the proportion of participants needing a dose reduction and being discontinued from study medication. ANALYSIS. Each outcome variable will be analyzed using appropriate statistical methods for the intention-to-treat (ITT) population and the evaluable population. All participants who have taken at least one study medication dose will be included in the safety analysis. Data will be summarized by treatment group. Summary statistics will include the mean, sample size, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum values for continuous variables, and frequencies and percentages for categorical variables.

Conditions

• Cocaine Dependence

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	D-serine	The molecular formula for D-serine is C3H7NO3. D-serine is being used in IND# 71,369 (D Javitt, PI) and in IND#76,940 (H Singer, PI). This approved D-serine will be purchased by the Research Pharmacy at Johns Hopkins and will be encapsulated into capsules containing 500 mg of D-serine.
BEHAVIORAL	Cognitive Behavioral Therapy	CBT sessions will be offered weekly to both active medication and placebo arms. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) published CBT treatment manual for cocaine dependence, written by Kathleen Carroll, Ph.D., will be utilized. The skills taught in this CBT manual include (1) self-monitoring and functional analysis of situational factors associated with craving or drug use; (2) learning alternative non-drug responses for handling high risk situations; and (3) general lifestyle modifications (e.g., increasing pleasant drug-free events, anger management, interpersonal skills, general problem-solving).
DRUG	Placebo	The Research Pharmacy at Johns Hopkins will produce matching placebo capsules.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-02-01
• Primary completion: 2019-09-01
• Completion: 2019-09-01
• First posted: 2012-10-26
• Last updated: 2014-02-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States