Phase II screening trial of lithium carbonate in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Examining a more efficient trial design

Autor: R G, Miller, D H, Moore, D A, Forshew, J S, Katz, R J, Barohn, M, Valan, M B, Bromberg, K L, Goslin, M C, Graves, L F, McCluskey, A L, McVey, T, Mozaffar, J M, Florence, A, Pestronk, M, Ross, E P, Simpson, S H, Appel, Lauren, Elman
Rok vydání: 2011
Předmět:
Zdroj: Neurology. 77:973-979
ISSN: 1526-632X
0028-3878
Popis: Objective: To use a historical placebo control design to determine whether lithium carbonate slows progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: A phase II trial was conducted at 10 sites in the Western ALS Study Group using similar dosages (300–450 mg/day), target blood levels (0.3–0.8 mEq/L), outcome measures, and trial duration (13 months) as the positive trial. However, taking riluzole was not a requirement for study entry. Placebo outcomes in patients matched for baseline features from a large database of recent clinical trials, showing stable rates of decline over the past 9 years, were used as historical controls. Results: The mean rate of decline of the ALS Functional Rating Scale–Revised was greater in 107 patients taking lithium carbonate (−1.20/month, 95% confidence interval [CI] −1.41 to −0.98) than that in 249 control patients (−1.01/month, 95% CI −1.11 to −0.92, p = 0.04). There were no differences in secondary outcome measures (forced vital capacity, time to failure, and quality of life), but there were more adverse events in the treated group. Conclusions: The lack of therapeutic benefit and safety concerns, taken together with similar results from 2 other recent trials, weighs against the use of lithium carbonate in patients with ALS. The absence of drift over time and the availability of a large database of patients for selecting a matched historical control group suggest that use of historical controls may result in more efficient phase II trials for screening putative ALS therapeutic agents. Classification of evidence: This study provided Class IV evidence that lithium carbonate does not slow the rate of decline of function in patients with ALS over 13 months.
Databáze: OpenAIRE