Therapeutic Response of Cannabidiol in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trial

Official title:

Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Tolerability of Cannabidiol (CBD) in Moderate to Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04911127
• Other study ID #: 19-01551
• Secondary ID: P64-01-003
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1/Phase 2
• Start date: October 5, 2021
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2023

Study information

• Verified date: February 2024
• Source: University of California, Los Angeles
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The study will randomly assign Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients on stable RA therapy to either placebo or cannabidiol (CBD). The overall goal of this proposal is to examine the efficacy and safety of CBD treatment as adjunctive to the medical management of RA patients.

Description:

This is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial at the University of California, Los Angeles evaluating the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of oral cannabidiol (CBD) as adjunctive for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients on stable therapy. Patients with moderate to severe RA meeting study inclusion criteria will be randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (CBD 200 mg BID, CBD 400 mg BID, or placebo). Patients in all groups will receive CBD or placebo under observation for 12 weeks with an additional follow-up phone call occurring 4 weeks after.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 67
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2023
• Est. primary completion date: December 31, 2023
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Meet the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) 2010 Classification Criteria for Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Disease activity score (DAS28) >= 3.2
• Age >= 18
• Stable RA therapy for 12 weeks prior to baseline
• Power Doppler Score >= 5 (for the PDUS 34 joint score)
• Must use at least one highly effective method of contraception
• Written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Prior exposure to cannabis <= 28 days prior to baseline
• Current diagnosed substance use disorders (including Alcohol Use Disorder)
• Moderate (Child-Pugh B) or severe (Child-Pugh C) hepatic impairment
• Chronic infections
• >10mg of prednisone daily use
• Daily use of central nervous system (CNS) depressant medications (e.g. sedatives, hypnotics [zolpidem, temazepam, alprazolam, lorazepam, diphenhydramine etc.])
• Women who are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breast feeding
• Sexually active subjects and their partners who are of childbearing potential (ie, neither surgically sterile nor postmenopausal) and not agreeing to use adequate contraception
• Deemed unsafe by the investigator
• History of an allergic reaction or adverse reaction to cannabis is exclusionary.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Arthritis
• Arthritis, Rheumatoid
• Cannabis
• Rheumatoid Arthritis

Intervention

Drug:
• 200mg Cannabidiol by capsules twice daily
200mg twice daily via 50mg capsules
• 400mg Cannabidiol by capsules twice daily
400mg twice daily via 50mg capsules
• Placebo capsules
MCT oil capsules as placebo for CBD

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology	Los Angeles	California

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of California, Los Angeles

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Change in inflammatory cytokine and chemokine concentrations	Inflammatory cytokines and chemokine concentrations from plasma will be evaluated using multiplex cytokine array.	Baseline, 12 weeks
Other	Change in white blood cell (WBC) subset percentages	WBC subset percentages will be assessed via flow cytometry.	Baseline, 12 weeks
Other	Change in Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI)	CDAI was derived as the sum of the following: tender joint count (TJC), swollen joint count (SJC), participant global assessment (PGA) of disease activity, and physician assessment of disease activity. TJC and SJC were taken as the number of tender and swollen joints, respectively, out of 28 assessed joints. PGA and physician assessment of disease activity were scored 0-100 millimeters (mm) and rounded to the nearest centimeter (cm) on a visual analog scale (VAS), where higher scores indicate greater perceived disease activity. The total CDAI score range is 0-76, where higher scores indicate increased disease activity.	Baseline, 12 weeks
Other	Change in Health Assessment Questionnaire - Disability Index (HAQ-DI)	The HAQ-DI is a patient-reported assessment of physical function that includes 20 items in eight categories representing a comprehensive set of functional activities, including dressing and grooming, arising, eating, walking, hygiene, reach, grip and common daily activities. Patients are asked about their ability to complete these tasks in the past week using the following categories: without any difficulty (0); with some difficulty (1); with much difficulty (2); and unable to do (3). Scores on each task are summed and averaged to provide an overall score ranging from 0 (best) to 3 (worst), with a higher score representing a high-dependency disability.	Baseline, 12 weeks
Primary	Change from Baseline in Disease Activity Score (DAS28/ESR)	The DAS28 is a combined index for measuring disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The index includes swollen joint counts (SJC) and tender joint counts (TJC), both scored 0-28 (higher scores indicate higher disease activity), as well as acute phase response (APR) determined as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and general health (GH), both scored 1-100 (higher scores indicate higher disease activity). DAS28 was calculated according to the following formula: DAS28 equals (=) [0.56 multiplied by (*) the square root (v) of TJC] plus (+) [0.28 * v of SJC] + (0.70 * the natural logarithm (ln) ESR in millimeters per hour (mm/h)] + [0.014 * GH in mm visual analogue assessment (VAS)]. A negative change from randomization indicated improvement.	Baseline, 12 Weeks
Primary	Tolerability as assessed by participant attrition	Tolerability will be evaluated based on the number of participants that drop out due to treatment emergent adverse events or serious adverse events.	12 weeks
Secondary	Change in Power Doppler Synovitis Score (PDUS)	34 joints will be evaluated using a 0 to 3 point scale for each joint and the sum of these represents PDUS. PDUS ranges from 0 to 102. Scores of 0 indicate the least amount of inflammation of the joint while scores of 3 indicate the most amount of inflammation. A higher value of the total score for PDUS represents more severe disease level.	Baseline, 12 weeks
Secondary	Change in Grey Scale Synovial Hypertrophy Score (GSUS)	34 joints will be evaluated using a 0 to 3 point scale for each joint and the sum of these represents GSUS. GSUS ranges from 0 to 102. Scores of 0 indicate the least amount of inflammation of the joint while scores of 3 indicate the most amount of inflammation. A higher value of the total score for GSUS represents more severe disease level.	Baseline, 12 weeks