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Healthy VolunteersPhase 4Schiz_2NCT01140620

Effects of Ketamine and Risperidone on Cognition

A Phase 4 study testing ketamine, risperidone and saline in people with Healthy Volunteers and Schizophrenia, run by University of Manchester at 3 sites in United Kingdom.

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 primary objective of this study is: To determine the effects of ketamine, which blocks the ion-channel gated by the NMDA receptor, on performance of cognitive tasks and the extent to which these effects can be reversed by the dopamine receptor antagonist, risperidone. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 45 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Healthy Volunteers, Schizophrenia
What is being tested?
ketamine, risperidone and saline
Could I receive a placebo?
Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
How many people
87 participants
Where
3 sitesUnited Kingdom
Study dates
Jun 2010to Dec 2010
Phase
Phase 4
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 to 45 years
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult

Who may be able to join

  • 5.2.1 General inclusion criteria (healthy and schizophrenia groups)
  • Male or female aged 18 to 45 years
  • Fluent English speakers, preferably with English as first language.
  • Normotensive with sitting (5 minutes) blood pressure of 100 to 140 mmHg systolic, and 60 to 90 mmHg diastolic.
  • Negative alcohol breath test.
  • Negative urine drug screen.
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  • Participant must have consumed only their normal intake of coffee or tea on the morning of the assessment day and not consumed any other beverages containing caffeine for 2 hours prior to the assessment visit.
  • Willing to follow the protocol prohibitions and restrictions .
  • Participant must have signed the informed consent form.
  • Those participants willing to participate in the pharmacogenomic components of the study must have signed the appropriate informed consent form.
  • 5.2.2 Inclusion criteria applicable to healthy volunteers only
  • SPQ score of 21 to 36.
  • BMI of 18 to 30 kg/m².
  • Non-smoker or light smoker (less than 5 cigarettes per day).
  • Has not smoked in the 2 hours prior to the assessment visit.
  • Females should be surgically sterile or abstinent or practising an effective method of birth control; they should have a negative urine pregnancy test.
  • Healthy at screening and assessment visits as determined by the study physician, based on a medical evaluation including medical history, physical examination, laboratory tests, vital signs, 12-lead ECG and pre-study psychological tests.
  • 5.2.3 Inclusion criteria applicable to participants with schizophrenia only
  • Documented history of a diagnosis of schizophrenia as confirmed by GP or psychiatrist or by previous research diagnostic interview.
  • Confirmation of diagnosis of schizophrenia, based on the MINI structured clinical interview, carried out by the study physician.
  • In good physical health at screening and assessment visits as determined by the study physician, based on a medical evaluation including medical history, physical examination, laboratory tests and vital signs1.

Who cannot join

  • 5.3.1 General exclusion criteria (healthy and schizophrenia groups)
  • History of alcohol or substance dependence.
  • Consumption of large amounts of caffeinated drinks.
  • Have received over-the-counter medicine within 48 hours prior to assessment visit (apart from paracetamol) unless it will not interfere with the study procedures or compromise safety.
  • History of, or current condition of, migraine headaches.
  • Significant hearing impairment which in the opinion of the Investigator may interfere with the performance of the psychological test battery.
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  • Significant visual impairment or history of ocular treatment or ongoing condition which may interfere with the performance of the psychological test battery.
  • Participated in a trial with any drug within 84 days of assessment visit.
  • Unable or unwilling to comply with study procedures.
  • 5.3.2 Exclusion criteria applicable to healthy volunteers only
  • Known or suspected hypersensitivity or intolerance to risperidone or any of their excipients.
  • Known or suspected hypersensitivity or intolerance to ketamine or any previous adverse reaction to anaesthesia.
  • If female: are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant or are currently breast feeding.
  • Relevant history, or presence upon clinical examination, of cardiac, ophthalmologic, gastro-intestinal, hepatic, or renal disease or other condition known to increase risk of side effects.
  • History or presence of neurological or psychiatric conditions.
  • Have received prescribed medication within 14 days prior to assessment visit (apart from the contraceptive pill) unless it will not interfere with the study procedures or compromise safety.
  • 5.3.3 Exclusion criteria applicable to participants with schizophrenia only
  • Changes to antipsychotic medications within 30 days of assessment visit.
  • Admission to hospital, involvement with the home treatment team for psychiatric reasons or documented relapse of psychiatric symptoms within last 3 months.
  • History or presence of psychiatric or neurological conditions other than schizophrenia, major depression and generalised anxiety disorder.
  • Current extra-pyramidal symptoms and/or adverse effects from antipsychotic medications that, in the opinion of the study physician, will interfere with completion of the study tasks.

Trial locations and contacts

3 sites in 1 country.

United Kingdom3 sites
  • School of Psychology, University of Cardiff

    Cardiff, CF10 3AT

  • Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London

    London, Greater London, SE5 8AF

  • University of Manchester (Dept of Neuropyschiatry)

    Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT

Other trials in United Kingdom

About this study

Official title: Effects of NMDA Receptor Antagonism on Cognitive Processes in Healthy Volunteers and Its Reversal by a Dopamine Antagonist: Comparison to Patients With Schizophrenia

The primary objective of this study is:

  • To determine the effects of ketamine, which blocks the ion-channel gated by the NMDA receptor, on performance of cognitive tasks and the extent to which these effects can be reversed by the dopamine receptor antagonist, risperidone.

The secondary objectives of this study are:

  • To establish whether patients with schizophrenia are able to reliably complete the biomarker test battery and to assess whether their responses are similar to healthy volunteers treated with ketamine.
  • To establish a multi-site recruitment and assessment capacity based on shared Standard Operating Procedures across three study centres.
Read the detailed description

This study is a continuation from a previous study (P1V-SCH-CT01-07). The overall aim of the 2 studies is to identify and validate potential biomarker tasks that may be used to provide early indications into the use of new treatments for schizophrenia. The studies are considering two potential models for schizophrenia in healthy volunteers, the first model looks at high versus average schizotypy, schizotypy being a personality trait. The second model, explored in this study, is a ketamine infusion.

Healthy volunteers will be identified through advertising and will initially be asked to complete an online questionnaire.Suitability for the next stage of the study will be based on the responses to the online questionnaire. Telephone interviews will then be conducted to assess suitability for screening.Screening visits will then be carried out in which a full medical and lab screening is undertaken. participants will also complete a number of psychiatric questionnaires and interviews. If participants remain suitable they will be invited to an assessment day in which they will be randomised to one of four study medication arms. Participants will then complete the biomarker tasks followed by questionnaires, rating scales and interviews. Patients with schizophrenia will form the 5th study arm and will not receive medication. They will complete the biomarkers in the same way as healthy volunteers.87 participants are planned, 72 healthy volunteers, 15 patients with schizophrenia.

This study does not test any investigational medicinal product (IMP) so any ethical issues that are associated with introducing a participant to a study drug are not applicable in this study.

Ketamine is already a widely used anaesthetic agent but when given at sub-anaesthetic doses is a useful tool for modelling schizophrenia psychosis.

The current study aims to assess the sensitivity of a battery of biomarker tasks (biomarkers are measures of processes that go wrong in illnesses and that contribute to symptoms) to the cognitive deficits induced by ketamine.

It may in future be possible to evaluate the effects of novel treatment for schizophrenia in healthy volunteers using this model, which would then potentially provide a rapid indication of the potential efficacy of candidate compounds at an early phase of drug development .

The study will provide information about the sensitivity of the biomarker tasks in detecting the effects of the pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia in healthy volunteers.

Being tested
ketamine, risperidone, saline, placebo risperidone
Keywords
NMDA receptor antagonism, cognitive processes, healthy volunteers, dopamine antagonist, schizophrenia
Medical subject headings
Schizophrenia

What participants receive

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

  • ketamineDrug

    Also called ketalar

    ketamine infusion to achieve plasma concentrations of 100 ng/mL. Duration approximately 3 hours

  • risperidoneDrug

    Also called risperdal

    risperidone (2 mg) capsule. One dosing of 2 mg.

  • salineDrug

    saline infusion. Duration approximately 3 hours

  • placebo risperidoneDrug

    Also called placebo risperdal

    placebo capsule to match risperidone 2 mg capsule

Study groups in NCT01140620
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
ketamine and risperidoneExperimentalOral risperidone pretreatment and intravenous ketamine infusion
Receives: Drug: ketamine; Drug: risperidone
ketamine and placeboActive comparatorOral placebo risperidone pretreatment and intravenous ketamine infusion
Receives: Drug: ketamine; Drug: placebo risperidone
saline and risperidoneActive comparatorOral risperidone pretreatment and intravenous saline infusion
Receives: Drug: risperidone; Drug: saline
saline and placeboPlacebo comparatorOral placebo risperidone pretreatment and intravenous saline infusion
Receives: Drug: saline; Drug: placebo risperidone
Patients with SchizophreniaNo interventionPatients with schizophrenia will not receive study drug and will not undergo randomisation.

What is being measured

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

  1. Biconditional learning task

    Accuracy (% correct) for simple and biconditional learning trials, averaged over 8 blocks

    Measured: 6 months

  2. Eye movement task

    1. Antisaccade error rate.
    2. Antisaccade correction rate.
    3. Antisaccade latency.
    4. Antisaccade amplitude gain.
    5. Antisaccade peak velocity.
    6. Prosaccade error rate.
    7. Prosaccade correction rate.
    8. Prosaccade latency.
    9. Prosaccade amplitude gain.
    10. Prosaccade peak velocity.
    11. Smooth pursuit gain at three different target speeds.
    12. Smooth pursuit saccadic frequency at three different target speeds.

    Measured: 6 months

  3. Salience Attribution task

    1. Implicit aberrant salience (ms).
    2. i. Overall reaction time b.ii. Implicit adaptive salience (ms).
    3. Explicit adaptive salience (mm).
    4. Explicit aberrant salience (mm).
    5. Commission errors.
    6. Omission errors.

    Measured: 6 months

  4. Signal detection task

    1. d׳ value
    2. Hits, when participants respond positively and a voice is present.
    3. False alarm rate.
    4. β value.

    Measured: 6 months

  5. N-Back

    1. Correct responses across three levels of difficulty.
    2. Percentage of overall responses that was correct.
    3. Errors of omission.
    4. Errors of commission.

    Measured: 6 months

  6. Spatial working memory

    1. Between search error rate - errors due to a participant returning to a treasure chest which had previously contained some treasure on an earlier trial within the same block.
    2. Within search error rate - errors due to a participant returning to the same treasure chest more than once within a trial.
    3. Average time to complete each difficulty level

    Measured: 6 months

  7. Verbal Fluency

    1. Number of words generated.
    2. Number of repetition errors: When the same word is repeated more than once within the letter or category.
    3. Number of set loss errors: These are: i.) Words that start with a letter which do not fit the trial; ii.) Words which are names of people or places or numbers; iii.) Grammatical variants of an already stated word; and iv.) Non-words.

    Measured: 6 months

  8. Event-related potentials (Manchester EEG pilot study only)

    1. Amplitude and latencies of the positive peak in the 80-160 ms range (P1) and the negative peak in the 160 - 250 ms range (N1) for the Kanitsa and non-Kanitsa conditions.
    2. Evoked gamma (30-100 Hz) and beta (14-30 Hz) oscillations in the 30 - 350 ms range to the Kanitsa condition.
    3. Evoked alpha (8-12 Hz) and theta (4-8 Hz) oscillations in the 30-500 ms range to both conditions.
    4. Coherence within and between frontal and occipital electrodes in the 100 - 400 ms range

    Measured: 6 months

  9. Questionnaires and assessment scale scores

    1. CADSS.
    2. BPRS.
    3. Effects of Drug Rating Scale.

    Measured: 6 months

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. Pharmacogenomic analysis

    An exploratory genetic analysis aiming to correlate any genetic polymorphisms associated with schizotypy, schizophrenia or brain development with study outcomes.

    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 posted9 Jun 2010 (estimated)
  2. Study startJun 2010
  3. Primary completionNov 2010
  4. Study completionDec 2010

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 4
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Quadruple blind
Who is masked
Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
87 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT01140620
Sponsor's protocol ID
P1V-SCH-CT02-09
Acronym
Schiz_2
Status last verified
Nov 2016
First submitted
8 Jun 2010
Last updated
9 Nov 2016
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
Individual data sharing
No

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 4 study testing ketamine, risperidone and saline in people with Healthy Volunteers and Schizophrenia, run by University of Manchester at 3 sites in United Kingdom.

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 21 inclusion and 21 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 9 Nov 2016. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 3 sites in United Kingdom. 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. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. 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 4 studies take place after a treatment is approved, to learn more about its long-term benefits and risks in everyday use.

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?

Biconditional learning task (time frame: 6 months). The study lists 9 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
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 9 Nov 2016.

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