AzTrials
AzTrials

Pulmonary HypertensionPhase 3ASSET-3NCT00360087

A Study of Patients Having Pulmonary Hypertension Associated With Sickle Cell Disease and Completing an ASSET Study

A Phase 3 study testing Bosentan in people with Pulmonary Hypertension and Sickle Cell Anemia, run by Actelion.

Terminated

Stopped early. The study ended before it was planned to and will not resume.

Official record
Search all trials

Trial summary

This study will assess the safety and efficacy of bosentan therapy (in a study known as ASSET) for patients who have high blood pressure in the lungs associated with sickle cell disease. That form of hypertension places people at risk for complications, including shortness of breath, pain, pneumonia, and death. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 16 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Pulmonary Hypertension, Sickle Cell Anemia
What is being tested?
Bosentan
How many people
236 participants
Where
No sites listed yet
Study dates
Mar 2006to Dec 2007
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 16 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Completion of the 16-week treatment period in the double-blind ASSET study
  • Women of childbearing potential must have a negative result on their serum pregnancy test and use reliable methods of contraception during study treatment and for 3 months after study treatment termination.
  • Reliable methods of contraception are:
  • Barrier type devices (e.g., female condom, diaphragm, contraceptive sponge) only in combination with a spermicide.
  • Intra-uterine devices.
  • Oral, injectable, transdermal or implantable contraceptives only in combination with a barrier method.
Show all 10Show fewer
  • Hormone-based contraceptives alone, regardless of the route of administration, are not considered to be reliable methods of contraception.
  • Abstention, rhythm method, and contraception by the partner alone are not acceptable methods of contraception.
  • Women not of childbearing potential are defined as prepubescent, postmenopausal (i.e., amenorrhea for at least 1 year), or surgically or naturally sterile.
  • Signed written informed consent is obtained from the patient or patient's parent/ legal representative prior to initiation of any study-related procedure.

Who cannot join

  • All patients (Groups A and B):
  • Any major protocol violation in the preceding double-blind ASSET study*.
  • Hemoglobin concentration less than 6.0 g/dL.
  • Pregnancy or breast-feeding.
  • Protocol violations will be reviewed by the monitor during site visits and discussed with the study staff on an ongoing basis and at the patient's completion of the double-blind study.
  • Group B only:
Show all 10Show fewer
  • Acute liver disease.
  • Newly diagnosed cirrhosis or portal hypertension.
  • ALT greater than or equal to 3 times ULN and/or albumin greater than 20% below LLN.
  • Newly diagnosed psychotic, addictive or other disorder limiting the ability to provide informed consent or to comply with study requirements.

About this study

Official title: Long-Term, Open-Label, Multicenter, Extension Study of Bosentan in Patients With Pulmonary Hypertension Associated With Sickle Cell Disease Completing a Double-Blind ASSET Study (AC-052-368 or AC 052-369)

This study will assess the safety and efficacy of bosentan therapy (in a study known as ASSET) for patients who have high blood pressure in the lungs associated with sickle cell disease. That form of hypertension places people at risk for complications, including shortness of breath, pain, pneumonia, and death. Previous studies have shown that bosentan can be helpful in reducing pulmonary hypertension.

Patients ages 16 and older who have completed the 16-week treatment in the ASSET 1 or ASSET 2 study and who are not pregnant or breastfeeding may be eligible for this study. The research will be conducted in about 25 hospitals in the United States and Europe. Up to 30 participants will be enrolled. The screening visit will involve a physical examination, blood sample of about 3 teaspoons for laboratory tests, and a pregnancy test. Patients' doctors will give them bosentan tablets (62.5 mg each), to take one in the morning and one in the evening. After 1 month, patients will be told whether the dose should be increased to 125 mg tablets to take twice a day. Two weeks after the increase in dose, a blood test will be done to analyze the drug's effects on the liver. After the start of treatment, patients will return for visits every 6 months, when there will be a 6-minute walking test to measure exercise capacity and evaluate shortness of breath. There will be follow-up for patients up to the end of the study and for 28 days after the last dose of bosentan is taken, to collect information about side effects.

Some patients on bosentan have had changes in liver function and red blood cell count. Side effects commonly reported are headache, flushed appearance, inflammation of the throat and nasal passages, and gastrointestinal symptoms. If patients have sudden worsening in breathing in the first few weeks after taking bosentan, they should immediately tell their doctors, because it may be necessary to change the treatment.

Read the detailed description

The object of this study is to assess long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of bosentan in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with sickle cell disease (SCD). The study population will include male and female patients with sickle cell disease (SS,S-beta-Thalassemia) who have previously completed the 16-week treatment period of the double-blind study of bosentan (ASSET 1 or ASSET 2). Patients who meet all the inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion criteria will be started on 62.5 mg bid for 4 weeks and then start the maintenance dose of 125 mg bid (or stay on 62.5 mg if their weight is less than 40kg/90lbs). Patients will be divided into two groups. Group A will consist of patients who begin this study within 4 weeks of completing ASSET 1 or ASSET2. Group B will consist of patients who begin this study longer than 4 weeks after completing ASSET I or ASSET 2. Patients will remain on drug until the FDA approves the drug for use in patients with pulmonary hypertension or until the sponsor decides to stop the study.

Being tested
Bosentan
Keywords
Treatment Study, Sickle Cell Anemia, 6-Minute Walk, Right Heart Catheterization, Tracleer, Sickle Cell, SCD
Medical subject headings
Hypertension, Pulmonary, Anemia, Sickle Cell

What participants receive

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

  • BosentanDrug

What is being measured

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

  1. Change from baseline to all assessed time points in 6MWT, in Borg dyspnea index, and in modified NYHA functional class.

Timeline

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

  1. First posted3 Aug 2006 (estimated)
  2. Study startMar 2006
  3. Primary completionAug 2007
  4. Study completionDec 2007

Why it stopped: Slow enrollment

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
Enrolment
236 participants
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00360087
Sponsor's protocol ID
AC-052-371
Acronym
ASSET-3
Status last verified
Jan 2025
First submitted
2 Aug 2006
Last updated
3 Feb 2025
Results posted
No

Publications

  • Gladwin MT, Sachdev V, Jison ML, Shizukuda Y, Plehn JF, Minter K, Brown B, Coles WA, Nichols JS, Ernst I, Hunter LA, Blackwelder WC, Schechter AN, Rodgers GP, Castro O, Ognibene FP. Pulmonary hypertension as a risk factor for death in patients with sickle cell disease. N Engl J Med. 2004 Feb 26;350(9):886-95. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa035477.

    PubMed 14985486
  • Castro O, Hoque M, Brown BD. Pulmonary hypertension in sickle cell disease: cardiac catheterization results and survival. Blood. 2003 Feb 15;101(4):1257-61. doi: 10.1182/blood-2002-03-0948. Epub 2002 Oct 3.

    PubMed 12393669
  • Minter KR, Gladwin MT. Pulmonary complications of sickle cell anemia. A need for increased recognition, treatment, and research. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001 Dec 1;164(11):2016-9. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.164.11.2104101. No abstract available.

    PubMed 11739128
  • Barst RJ, Mubarak KK, Machado RF, Ataga KI, Benza RL, Castro O, Naeije R, Sood N, Swerdlow PS, Hildesheim M, Gladwin MT; ASSET study group*. Exercise capacity and haemodynamics in patients with sickle cell disease with pulmonary hypertension treated with bosentan: results of the ASSET studies. Br J Haematol. 2010 May;149(3):426-35. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.2010.08097.x. Epub 2010 Feb 17.

    PubMed 20175775

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 3 study testing Bosentan in people with Pulmonary Hypertension and Sickle Cell Anemia, run by Actelion.

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 10 inclusion and 10 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: stopped early, as of the sponsor's last update on 3 Feb 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

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 was stopped early (reason given: Slow enrollment). Results are not available in the source record.

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?

Change from baseline to all assessed time points in 6MWT, in Borg dyspnea index, and in modified NYHA functional class.. 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 NCT00360087, which also lists 4 linked publications.

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 3 Feb 2025.

Free account

Log in to keep searching

You’ve used your 3 free searches. AzTrials is free: log in or create a free account to keep searching clinical trials and save the ones you want to follow.

Create a free accountLog in