Pregabalin for the Treatment of Uremic Pruritus

Uremic Pruritus Clinical Trial

Official title:

A Multicenter, Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo and Active-controlled Study of Pregabalin for the Treatment of Uremic Pruritus

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01852318
• Other study ID #: 201301065MINB
• Secondary ID: T-NTUH-8407
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: Phase 4
• First received: May 8, 2013
• Last updated: April 13, 2014
• Start date: April 2014
• Est. completion date: May 2015

Study information

• Verified date: April 2014
• Source: National Taiwan University Hospital
• Contact: Hsien-Yi Chiu, MD
• Phone: 0972654317
• Email: extra.owl0430[@]yahoo.com.tw
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Taiwan: Department of Health
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Pruritus s a very distressing problem affecting patients with uremia and the prevalence of uremic pruritus (UP) ranges between 22% to 66%. Although some studies suggested pruritus is being decreased recently by use of better dialysis techniques, accumulating studies have shown the still high prevalence of UP. Because of its long duration, frequency and high intensity, UP has been reported to have a negative impact upon the patients' quality of life (QoL). However, the therapies in use, including antihistamines, ultraviolets, opioid antagonists and topical agents, are generally of insufficient efficacy, failing to provide adequate and long-lasting relief. Based on the neuropathic hypothesis and frequent co-occurrence of chronic pruritus and peripheral neuropathy in the patients undergoing hemodialysis, gabapentin, a medication widely used for a spectrum of neuropathic pain syndromes, has recently been suggested to be effective in the treatment of UP.Pregabalin, another gabaergic drug structurally related to gabapentin, have an advantage over gabapentin in terms of its more rapid response to stressful symptoms. Only two very recently small-scaled studies evaluate the effect of pregabalin for UP. However, both these studies were not randomized, placebo-controlled trails.As UP is still one of the most vexing and disabling symptoms in patients with ESRD, we decided to do this multicenter, randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial (RCT) with a larger sample size and a longer duration.

Description:

Pruritus s a very distressing problem affecting patients with uremia and the prevalence of uremic pruritus (UP) ranges between 22% to 66%. Although some studies suggested pruritus is being decreased recently by use of better dialysis techniques, accumulating studies have shown the still high prevalence of UP. Because of its long duration, frequency and high intensity, UP has been reported to have a negative impact upon the patients' quality of life (QoL). However, the therapies in use, including antihistamines, ultraviolets, opioid antagonists and topical agents, are generally of insufficient efficacy, failing to provide adequate and long-lasting relief. Based on the neuropathic hypothesis and frequent co-occurrence of chronic pruritus and peripheral neuropathy in the patients undergoing hemodialysis, gabapentin, a medication widely used for a spectrum of neuropathic pain syndromes, has recently been suggested to be effective in the treatment of UP.

Pregabalin, another gabaergic drug structurally related to gabapentin, have an advantage over gabapentin in terms of its more rapid response to stressful symptoms. Only two very recently small-scaled studies evaluate the effect of pregabalin for UP. However, both these studies were not randomized, placebo-controlled trails.

Studies focusing on the treatment of UP were limited and no studies comparing the efficacy between pregabalin and antihistamine, most widely used for the therapy of UP currently, were conducted. Additionally. there were few studies investigating the effect of the drugs used for UP on the QoL outcomes, though UP has a great impact on the patients' QoL. As UP is still one of the most vexing and disabling symptoms in patients with ESRD, we decided to do this multicenter, randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial (RCT) with a larger sample size and a longer duration.

Objectives:

To investigate the efficacy and the safety of pregabalin, as compared with fexofenadine and placebo, in the treatment of uremic pruritus.

Methods:

This is a multicenter RCT. Haemodialysis patients with established UP were enrolled from multiple medical centers in Taiwan. All patients will be randomly allocated to receive one of three treatments —pregabalin 75mg daily, fexofenadine 60 mg daily, or placebo—for 12 weeks. The primary endpoint of the study is the change in the visual analogue score and pruritus score. The changes in QoL measures, including Skindex-10, Brief Itching Inventory and Itch Medical Outcomes Study, are also assessed before, during and after therapy. Safety is assessed at all visits throughout the study. A follow-up visit will be performed 2 weeks after administration of the final dose of study

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 210
• Est. completion date: May 2015
• Est. primary completion date: May 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 20 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients who have end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on maintenance hemodialysis more than twice weekly for at least three months and suffered from uremic pruritus.

• 20 Years and older

• Definition of uremic pruritus:

Patients were considered to have pruritus if they had either of the following conditions:

• at least 3 episodes of itch during a period of 2 weeks or less, with the symptom appearing a few times a day, lasting at least a few minutes, and troubling the patient

• he appearance of an itch in a regular pattern during a period of 6 months, but less frequently than listed above.

To be defined as "uremic," the pruritus had to appear shortly before the onset of dialysis, or at any time after that, without evidence of any other active disease that could explain the pruritus.

-Patients who suffer from severe pruritus unresponsive to topical emollient and corticosteroids, and were diagnosed as having uremic pruritus by dermatologists

Exclusion Criteria:

1. All patients with pruritus attributable to any other causes, such as scabies or other evident skin diseases (atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, generalized dermatitis, pediculosis, urticaria …etc), and any medication with potential pruritic properties.

2. Patients whose pruritus occurred only during dialysis

3. Patients received oral drugs with presumed antipruritic effect, including benzodiazepines, muscle relaxants, opioid analgesics, tricyclic antidepressants and antiepileptic drugs, or ultraviolet B phototherapy in the past one week prior to participate in this trial or during the trial.

4. Concomitant elevation of liver enzymes (GOT: male >37 U/L, female:>31 U/L, GPT: male >41 U/L, female:>31U/L), alkaline phosphatase (ALP>104U/L), bilirubin (T-bil>1.2 mg/dL), serum phosphorus (>7 mg/dl), serum parathyroid hormone (>300 pg/ml).

5. Patients who have the history of allergy to pregabalin, any acute illness, liver cirrhosis, hepatic failure, decompensated heart failure, inability to give informed consent, or poor compliance.

6. Patients with uncontrolled psychiatric disease, active malignancy, and untreated hypothyroidism.

7. Female patients who are pregnant, are nursing, or want to become pregnant.

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

• Pruritus
• Uremic Pruritus

Intervention

Drug:
• pregabalin 75mg daily for 12 weeks
oral pregabalin 75mg daily for 12 weeks
• fexofenadine 60 mg daily for 12 weeks
fexofenadine 60 mg daily for 12 weeks
• placebo

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Taiwan	National Taiwan University (NTUH); NTUH Hsin-Chu Branch; NTUH Yun-Lin Branch; Cathay General hospital	Taipei

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
National Taiwan University Hospital	Cathay General Hospital

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Taiwan, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	The changes in pruritus symptoms assessed by VAS	All participants will receive telephone interviewed by CRC every week and the severity, intensity, frequency and distribution of pruritus are evaluated by visual analogue scale (VAS)at the baseline of the study, every week throughout the treatment period and 2 weeks after administration of the final dose of study medication.	Week0, week1-12, Week 14	No
Secondary	The changes in pruritus score (PS), Skindex-10", "Brief Itching Inventory" and Itch Medical Outcomes Study	All participants will receive telephone interviewed by CRC every week and the severity, intensity, frequency and distribution of pruritus are evaluated by visual analogue scale (VAS) and pruritus score (PS)29-30 at the baseline of the study, every week throughout the treatment period and 2 weeks after administration of the final dose of study medication. Because uremic pruritus has a great potential to impair the patients's quality of life (QoL), we adapt"Skindex-10", "Brief Itching Inventory" and Itch Medical Outcomes Study (MOS), proposed previously by Mathur et al.,12 to assess the effect of pregabalin treatment on the health-related quality of life in hemodialysis patients. These QoL measures are evaluated by clinicians at the baseline, every three weeks during treatment period and 2 weeks after administration of the final dose of study medication.	PS: Week0, week1-12, Week 14; Skindex-10", "Brief Itching Inventory" and Itch Medical Outcomes Study (MOS): week0, 3,6, 9, 12, 14	No