Phase IIa Study of AV411, a Glial Activation Inhibitor, for Opioid Withdrawal — AV411  

Opioid-Related Disorders Clinical Trial

Official title: The Safety, Tolerability and Preliminary Efficacy of AV411, a Glial Activation Inhibitor, in Heroin Abusers Under Conditions of Morphine Maintenance and Withdrawal

Status Active, not recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

Repeated use and/or abuse of opioid medications is generally associated with a characteristic withdrawal syndrome that develops after cessation of drug administration. The present study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of AV411 to alter opioid-induced withdrawal symptoms.

Clinical Trial Description

Opioid-induced cytokine release and glial activation has been proposed to directly contribute to the affective and physiological aspects of withdrawal. Furthermore, cytokine release following opioid administration has been hypothesized to be a limiting factor in both the duration and magnitude of opioid-induced analgesia. The two primary goals of our study are to assess AV411's ability to 1) reduce the opioid-withdrawal syndrome and 2) increase and prolong the analgesic effects of the mu-opioid agonist, oxycodone. To explore whether AV411 decreases opioid-induced glial cell activation, some participants assigned to the placebo and high dose AV411 groups (n = 6 for each dose condition) will be studied twice with [11C]PK11195, a positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer used to measure the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) in the human brain. The PBR is a receptor located on the mitochondria of the microglia and can be used to examine microglial activation in various brain regions. ;

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Safety/Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Basic Science

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Opioid-Related Disorders

• NCT number: NCT00723177
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: New York State Psychiatric Institute
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: Phase 2
• Start date: October 2008
• Completion date: December 2013