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Bipolar DisorderPhase 3NCT00226135

Prophylactic Effect of Lamotrigine Compared With Lithium in Bipolar Disorder

A Phase 3 study testing lithium or lamotrigine in people with Bipolar Disorder, run by University of Aarhus at 1 site in Denmark.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The purpose of this study is to compare lamotrigine with lithium in the long term treatment of bipolar disorder in terms of new episode preventive potentials. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Bipolar Disorder
What is being tested?
lithium or lamotrigine
How many people
150 participants
Where
1 siteDenmark
Study dates
Mar 2001to Dec 2006
Phase
Phase 3
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Age above 18
  • Inclusion is preceded by an affective episode requiring hospitalisation or outpatient drug treatment (index episode) which can be a manic episode (ICD-10 research criteria), a depressive episode of at least moderate degree (ICD-10 research criteria) or a mixed manic state (manic episode with at least additional three ICD-10 depressive symptoms except for difficulties with concentration or thinking, agitation or dyssomnia). The episode can be with or without psychotic symptoms including Schneiderian first-rank symptoms or bizarre delusions as long as the psychotic symptoms do not occur outside the affective episode.
  • No more than 12 months may pass between the onset of the index episode (or admission if that is the case)and date of randomisation (in order to ensure a current risk of relapse as well as reliable psychopathological information).
  • Besides the index episode, at least one previous episode must have occurred within the last five years which meets the criteria mentioned in point number two above. This episode may not necessarily have led to hospitalisation. Two episodes are separated by at least two months without significant symptoms or change in polarity (depression to mania/mixed mania or vice versa).
  • At least one manic episode (or mixed manic episode) within the last 5 years.

Who cannot join

  • Contraindications to the protocol drugs.
  • Severe somatic disease, e.g. epilepsy, which may interfere with study treatment or effect evaluation.
  • Pregnancy (or risk of pregnancy).
  • Subject has prior to randomization received prophylactic treatment with lithium or lamotrigine conducted adequately in the sense of sufficient time and dose and ensuring compliance, and experienced a definite lack of prophylactic effect
  • An ICD-10 diagnosis of abuse within the last year with a subsequent risk of protocol violation. Therefore, subjects with a secondary abuse can often be included in the study.
  • Anticipated protocol violation for other reasons.
  • No written informed consent from the subject can be obtained.
  • The subject has previously been randomised in the study.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Denmark1 site
  • Aarhus University Psychiatric Hospital

    Risskov, Risskov, 8240

Other trials in Denmark

About this study

Official title: Lamotrigine Versus Lithium in Subjects With Bipolar Affective Disorders - a Randomised Study of Prophylactic Effect

The purpose of this study is to compare lamotrigine with lithium in the long term treatment of bipolar disorder in terms of new episode preventive potentials.

Read the detailed description

Bipolar disorder is a recurrent lifelong illness. Lithium is still the drug of first choice in the prophylactic treatment. However, lithium's side effects are considerable. Thus the interest in developing alternatives to lithium has increased, and various antiepileptic drugs have been studied. Among these, lamotrigine, which generally is well tolerated, has been evaluated in industry generated trials. However, for various reasons, the generalisability of the results from these studies is limited. Also the follow-up time is limited. This study is a pragmatic effectiveness study, overcoming some of these limitations, and comparing lamotrigine with that of lithium in terms of their potentials for preventing new episodes in patients with bipolar disorder.

Being tested
lithium or lamotrigine
Keywords
Bipolar disorder, Treatment, Long-term, Lithium, Lamotrigine, Randomised Clinical Trial
Medical subject headings
Bipolar Disorder

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • lithium or lamotrigineDrug

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Time to a new mood episode after having succeeded the first 6 month of treatment and reached monotherapy with study drug at that point. New episode defined as symptoms requiring treatment or admission (or suicide).

Secondary outcomes (5)
  1. 1: number of patients (ITT population)that completed first 6 months and achieved monotherapy at that time.

  2. 2: Number of patients with reported AE (type specified)

  3. 3: Number of patients with an endpoint other than censoring (among populations under observation for ½ year, 1 year, 1½ years, 2 years, and 2½ years)

  4. 4:The primary end point but selected to patients under observations for 1½ and 2½ years

  5. 5: Number of endpoint (other than censoring)among patients reaching 6 months and monotherapy at that time, per person-time(testing for inter-group balance with respect to background variables)

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted26 Sep 2005 (estimated)
  2. Study startMar 2001
  3. Study completionDec 2006

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
150 participants
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00226135
Sponsor's protocol ID
2612-1400
Other IDs
98-rc-316
Status last verified
Apr 2007
First submitted
23 Sep 2005
Last updated
5 Apr 2007
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No

Publications

  • Hashimoto Y, Kotake K, Watanabe N, Fujiwara T, Sakamoto S. Lamotrigine in the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021 Sep 15;9(9):CD013575. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013575.pub2.

    PubMed 34523118

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 3 study testing lithium or lamotrigine in people with Bipolar Disorder, run by University of Aarhus at 1 site in Denmark.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 8 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 5 Apr 2007. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Denmark. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 3 studies compare the treatment with the current standard treatment or a placebo in a large group, to confirm how well it works and watch for side effects.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Time to a new mood episode after having succeeded the first 6 month of treatment and reached monotherapy with study drug at that point. New episode defined as symptoms requiring treatment or admission (or suicide).. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00226135, which also lists 1 linked publication.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 5 Apr 2007; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 6 Nov 2026.

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