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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR)Phase 2NCT01396317

Study of Tocilizumab to Treat Polymyalgia Rheumatica

A Phase 2 study testing Tocilizumab in people with Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR), run by Hospital for Special Surgery, New York at 1 site in United States.

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

This is a fifteen-month open label, Phase IIa clinical trial is being conducted to assess the tolerability, safety and efficacy of a medication called Tocilizumab (Actemra®) in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 50 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR)
What is being tested?
Tocilizumab
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
10 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
Apr 2011to Jan 2016
Phase
Phase 2

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

Disease- Specific Inclusion Criteria:

Patients must meet the following inclusion criteria to be eligible for study entry:

Diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica and enrolled within one month of diagnosis.

Disease Specific Exclusion Criteria:

Patients will be excluded from the study based on the following criteria:

  • Symptoms or diagnosis of temporal arteritis, including headache, jaw claudication, hyperesthesia of scalp, abnormal palpated temporal artery, visual disturbances, temporal artery biopsy positivity
  • Concurrent rheumatoid arthritis
  • Presence of rheumatoid factor and CCP
  • Other inflammatory arthritis or other connective tissue diseases, such as but not limited to systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, vasculitis, polymyositis, dermatomyositis, mixed connective tissue disease
  • Treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica with more than 20mg of daily prednisone or its equivalent at the time of screening
  • Treatment with more than 30mg of daily prednisone or its equivalent since diagnosis. Treatment with 30mg of daily prednisone or its equivalent since diagnosis for more than 2 weeks.
  • More than 4 weeks of corticosteroid therapy prior to enrollment
  • History of bowel perforation within the past five years.
  • Active diverticulitis.
  • Pre-existing or recent onset demyelinating disorders

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • Hospital for Special Surgery

    New York, New York, 100214898

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Phase IIa of Tocilizumab In the Treatment of Polymyalgia Rheumatica

This is a fifteen-month open label, Phase IIa clinical trial is being conducted to assess the tolerability, safety and efficacy of a medication called Tocilizumab (Actemra®) in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR).

Read the detailed description

This fifteen-month open label, Phase IIa clinical trial is being conducted to assess the tolerability, safety and efficacy of a medication called Tocilizumab (Actemra®) in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). The typical symptoms of PMR are muscle pain and stiffness in the shoulder, neck or hip region. Steroids have traditionally been used to treat this condition with great success, although long courses of steroids, up to 2 years in many cases, are often required. This can result in many unwanted side effects including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cataracts, weak bones with fractures, weak muscles, skin bruising, difficulty sleeping and mood disturbances. In this trial, the steroid dosage will be decreased much more quickly than what is done in routine clinical practice; there is an expectation that steroid therapy will be withdrawn within six months.

Tocilizumab is a medication already on the market that has been FDA approved in the US and Japan for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, and in Japan it is also approved for certain types of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (which is like rheumatoid arthritis in children) and Castleman's disease (which is a rare disease that causes enlarged lymph nodes). It is not FDA approved to treat polymyalgia rheumatica at this time. In this study, it will be given as an intravenous infusion once a month for a treatment period of one year. Experiments done on the blood of patients with PMR show one particular cytokine or small molecule that circulates throughout the body, interleukin-6, to be elevated in this disease. Tocilizumab is a medication that is designed to specifically block this cytokine. The co-primary endpoints for this study include efficacy, as well as evaluations of safety and tolerability.

  • Efficacy will be defined by the proportion of patients in Disease Remission (DR) off corticosteroids, without relapse or recurrence, at six months from trial entry
  • Safety and tolerability of Tocilizumab will be evaluated during the fifteen-month study period by the monitoring of adverse events and immunogenicity surveillance

Disease Remission (DR) will be defined as the disappearance of signs and symptoms of polymyalgia rheumatica (aching and stiffness of the shoulder, hip girdle, or both) with normalization of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR<30 mm/hr) and c-reactive protein (CRP ≤1.0 mg/dl), unless elevation of ESR and/or CRP are attributable to causes other than PMR (i.e., infection).

Being tested
Tocilizumab
Keywords
PMR, POLYMYALGIA RHEUMATICA, Tocilizumab, Hospital for Special Surgery, HSS, Robert Spiera
Medical subject headings
Polymyalgia Rheumatica

What participants receive

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

  • TocilizumabDrug

    Also called Actemra

    Tocilizumab is a humanized anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody that has been FDA approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This molecule binds to the IL-6 binding site of human IL-6 receptor, and competitively inhibits IL-6 signaling.

Study groups in NCT01396317
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
TocilizumabExperimentalThis is a single-arm study. All subjects will receive the active study treatment for 12 months, and will then be evaluated for 3 months of long-term follow-up.
Receives: Drug: Tocilizumab

What is being measured

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

  1. Proportion of Patients in Disease Remission at Six Months From Trial Entry

    The co-primary endpoints for this study include efficacy:

    • Efficacy will be defined by the proportion of patients in Disease Remission (DR) off corticosteroids, without relapse or recurrence, at six months from trial entry

    Relapse was defined as the reappearance of signs and symptoms of PMR, accompanied by an increasing erythrocyte sedimentation rate and/or C-reactive protein level attributable to disease activity. Recurrence was similarly defined as the return of PMR symptoms in conjunction with elevations in levels of inflammation markers, occurring 1 month after discontinuation of glucocorticoid therapy.

    Measured: Six months

  2. Number of Participants With Adverse Events as a Measure of Safety and Tolerability

    The co-primary endpoints for this study include evaluations of safety and tolerability:

    • Safety and tolerability of Tocilizumab will be evaluated during the fifteen-month study period by the monitoring of adverse events and immunogenicity surveillance

    Measured: 15 months

Secondary outcomes (4)
  1. Proportion of Patients Able to Achieve Disease Remission (DR) Off Corticosteroids, Without Disease Relapse or Recurrence

    Measured: 12 and 15 months from trial entry

  2. Proportion of Patients Who Develop Disease Relapses

    Relapse was defined as the reappearance of signs and symptoms of PMR, accompanied by an increasing erythrocyte sedimentation rate and/or C-reactive\ protein level attributable to disease activity. Recurrence was similarly defined as the return of PMR symptoms in conjunction with elevations in levels of inflammation markers, occurring 1 month after discontinuation of GC therapy.

    Measured: 6, 12 and 15 months from trial entry

  3. The Cumulative Dose of Prednisone

    Measured: 6, 12 and 15 months from trial entry

  4. Total Number of Relapses/Recurrences

    Measured: 12 months

Timeline

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

  1. First posted18 Jul 2011 (estimated)
  2. Study startApr 2011
  3. Primary completionDec 2015
  4. Study completionJan 2016

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 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
10 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT01396317
Sponsor's protocol ID
11081
Status last verified
Jan 2018
First submitted
11 Jul 2011
Last updated
17 Jan 2018
Data monitoring committee
Yes

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