RCT Comparing Methadone and Buprenorphine in Pregnant Women

Pregnancy Clinical Trial

Official title:

Maternal Opioid Treatment: Human Experimental Research

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00271219
• Other study ID #: R01DA15764-1
• Secondary ID: R01DA015764R01DA
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 3
• First received: December 28, 2005
• Last updated: July 30, 2015
• Start date: July 2005
• Est. completion date: June 2010

Study information

• Verified date: July 2015
• Source: Johns Hopkins University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Food and Drug Administration
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Children born to women who abuse drugs have a high risk of being born with birth defects and developmental problems. Methadone is a drug that is commonly used for treating opioid dependence. However, its use by a pregnant woman can cause severe withdrawal symptoms in a newborn because of the prenatal exposure. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of buprenorphine, another drug, versus methadone in reducing withdrawal symptoms in children born to opioid-dependent women.

Description:

Women who use drugs during pregnancy place their unborn children at high risk for being born addicted to drugs. Such children may also be born with birth defects and may experience learning and behavioral problems. Methadone, a synthetic narcotic, is commonly prescribed to treat opioid addiction. It may not be an optimal solution for opioid-dependent pregnant women, however, because a large percentage of children born to women taking methadone experience severe drug withdrawal symptoms at birth that often require medical treatment. Common opioid withdrawal symptoms, described as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in babies, include tremors, irritability, sleep problems, seizures, dehydration, and fever. Buprenorphine is a medication that has been approved to treat opioid dependence in individuals who are not pregnant but has not been approved for pregnant individuals. Past research has shown that use of buprenorphine in pregnant women results in improved birth outcomes over methadone. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of buprenorphine versus methadone at reducing opioid withdrawal symptoms in babies born to opioid-dependent women.

This study will enroll opioid-dependent pregnant women who are 13 to 30 weeks pregnant and will follow each woman and her child throughout the pregnancy until 6 weeks postpartum. All participants will undergo an initial screening that will last several hours. Participants will then be randomly assigned to receive either methadone or buprenorphine on a daily basis, and will be required to visit the clinic each day to receive their medication. Outcome measurements will be assessed at weekly study visits throughout the pregnancy, and will include drug use, HIV risk behaviors, medication dose adequacy and safety, treatment retention, and psychosocial functioning. Urine samples will be collected 3 times a week, and blood will be drawn throughout the pregnancy for safety monitoring. Outcome measurements related to the baby will include head circumference measurement, length of hospital stay, severity and frequency of withdrawal symptoms, and amount of medication needed to control withdrawal symptoms.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 175
• Est. completion date: June 2010
• Est. primary completion date: August 2009
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Female
• Age group: 18 Years to 41 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Current opioid dependence

• Current opioid use, as determined by a urine drug test

• Pregnant with a single child with a gestational age of 6 to 30 weeks, as determined by a sonogram

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current medical condition that would make study participation dangerous, as determined by study physician

• Diagnosed with an acute, severe psychiatric illness

• Current SCID I-E module diagnosis of benzodiazepine or alcohol abuse

• Use of alcohol or benzodiazepines in the 30 days prior to study entry, as determined by the Addiction Severity Index

• Pending legal action that may prohibit or interfere with study participation

Study Design

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Opioid Dependence
• Opioid Related Disorders
• Opioid-Related Disorders
• Pregnancy

Intervention

Drug:
• Methadone
daily oral dosing 20-140 mg
• Buprenorphine
sl daily 2-32 mg

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Austria	Medical University of Vienna	Vienna
Canada	St. Joseph's Health Centre	Toronto	Ontario
United States	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine	Baltimore	Maryland
United States	University of Vermont	Burlington	Vermont
United States	Wayne State University	Detroit	Michigan
United States	Vanderbilt University	Nashville	Tennessee
United States	Thomas Jefferson University	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
United States	Brown University	Providence	Rhode Island

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Johns Hopkins University	National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Countries where clinical trial is conducted

United States,  Austria,  Canada, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Child's Head Circumference Measurement (Measured at Birth)		birth	Yes
Primary	Child's Length of Hospital Stay		delivery until hospital discharge (min=2 days, max=79 days)	Yes
Primary	Number of Children Requiring Treatment for Neonatal Abstinence Signs (NAS)	Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) characterized by hyperirritability of the central nervous system and dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, and respiratory system.11 When left untreated, NAS can result in serious illness (e.g., diarrhea, feeding difficulties, weight loss, and seizures) and death.	From birth until hospital discharge (min=4 days, max=10, depending on site)	Yes
Primary	Child's Peak Daily Total NAS Score	NAS was measured with the MOTHER NAS scale, which includes 28 items, 19 of which are used for scoring and medication decisions. Scores can range from 0 to 42, with higher scores indicating more severe withdrawal.	minimum twice daily from birth until NAS no longer measured (min=10 days)	Yes
Primary	Total Amount of Morphine Sulfate That a Neonate Receives to Treat NAS	Total amount in mg	Start of NAS treatment until discontinuation of NAS treatment (min=0 days, max=76 days)	Yes
Secondary	Mother's Self-report of Drug Use (Measured Monthly by Time Line Follow Back)		monthly from study entry until discontinuation or delivery (min=29 days, max=239 days)	No
Secondary	Mother's HIV Risk Behaviors (Measured Monthly by Risk Behavior Assessment)		monthly from study entry until discontinuation or delivery (min=29 days, max=239 days)	Yes
Secondary	Mother's Measures of Dose Adequacy and Acceptance Over Time (Measured Weekly by Dose Adequacy Measure)	Pregnant women maintained on an opioid agonist medication may require upward adjustment to their medication during the course of pregnant. The Dose Adequacy Measure represented a recordation of dosing adjustments during the course of the study.	from study entry until discontinuation or delivery (min=29 days, max=239 days)	No
Secondary	Mother's Psychosocial Functioning at Delivery as Measured by the Addiction Severity Index Psychosocial Index Score	The Addiction Severity Index is a structured clinical interview that assesses problem severity in 7 areas of functioning: alcohol use, drug use, medical, legal, employment, psychosocial, and psychiatric status. Each area of functioning yields a composite scale score between 0 and 1, with higher scores indicating greater problem severity in that area. Only the psychosocial index was examined in this study.	at delivery	No