ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00000790Updated Nov 4, 2021

Thalidomide for Treatment of Oral and Esophageal Aphthous Ulcers and HIV Viremia in Patients With HIV Infection

A Phase 2 interventional study of Thalidomide in HIV Infections and Stomatitis, Aphthous, sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Completed at 40 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 13 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-11-04.

Sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
164
Ages
13 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

PRIMARY: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of thalidomide for treatment of oral and esophageal aphthous ulcers (those unrelated to a known infection or malignancy) in patients with advanced HIV disease. To evaluate the effect of thalidomide on HIV load in this patient population. Per 06/28/94 amendment, to evaluate the effectiveness of thalidomide in preventing recurrences in patients whose aphthae completely heal at the end of acute treatment.

SECONDARY: To evaluate the effect of thalidomide on blood tumor necrosis factor (TNF) levels and to obtain pharmacokinetic data on the drug. Per 06/28/94 amendment, to evaluate the safety of thalidomide. Per 05/10/95 amendment, to explore in a substudy the effects of thalidomide on idiopathic genital aphthous ulcers in HIV-infected women.

Aphthous ulcers of the mouth or esophagus can interfere with eating, resulting in malnutrition and wasting. Thalidomide has been proposed as an effective therapy for severe forms of aphthous ulceration in AIDS patients.

Read the detailed description

Aphthous ulcers of the mouth or esophagus can interfere with eating, resulting in malnutrition and wasting. Thalidomide has been proposed as an effective therapy for severe forms of aphthous ulceration in AIDS patients.

Patients are randomized to receive 4 weeks of either thalidomide or placebo orally, administered once daily. Patients are followed weekly. Complete responders after 4 weeks of acute treatment enter a 24-week maintenance phase. A pharmacokinetic substudy will be included.

02

Conditions studied

  • HIV Infections
  • Stomatitis, Aphthous

Keywords

  • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
  • AIDS-Related Complex
  • Thalidomide
  • Stomatitis, Aphthous
03

In context

HIV Infections

4,734 studies on the registry are indexed under HIV Infections; 244 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 164 is above the median of 80 across 3,489 interventional studies indexed under HIV Infections.

Browse HIV Infections studies →

Lead sponsor

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is the lead sponsor of 2,446 studies on the registry; 179 are open to participants now.

Of its 405 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 302 (75%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
13 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

Concurrent Medication:

Allowed:

  • Anti- therapy provided therapy has remained constant in the 4 weeks prior to study entry.
  • Narcotic analgesia after the first week of treatment ONLY IF the patient is not experiencing somnolence.

Patients must have:

  • Documented HIV infection or AIDS.
  • -confirmed aphthous ulceration of the mouth or esophagus lasting at least 2 weeks.
  • Negative culture of ulcer for Herpes simplex.
  • En face diameter of >= 5 mm for largest aphthous ulcer.
  • of at least 3 months.

NOTE:

  • This study is approved for prisoner participation.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Co-existing Condition:

Patients with the following symptoms or conditions are excluded:

  • Known allergy to thalidomide.
  • Grade 2 or worse bilateral peripheral neuropathy.

EXCLUDED FOR MAINTENANCE PHASE:

  • Toxicity other than somnolence in acute phase that required discontinuation of drug.

Concurrent Medication:

Excluded:

  • Acute therapy for opportunistic infection.
  • ddC.
  • Pentoxifylline.
  • Methotrexate, trimetrexate, antineoplastic alkylating agents.
  • Other putative immunomodulators.
  • CNS depressants and/or medications with sedative or hypnotic effect.
  • Systemic and/or oral topical .
  • Systemic chemotherapy for Kaposi's sarcoma or other .
  • Compounded antibacterial mouthwashes containing anti-infective agents (such as doxycycline, minocycline, tetracycline, or nystatin).

Concurrent Treatment:

Excluded:

  • Radiation to head and/or neck.

Patients with the following prior conditions are excluded:

  • History of grade 2 or worse bilateral peripheral neuropathy.
  • Change in anti- therapy within 4 weeks prior to study entry.
  • Prior enrollment in ACTG 251 or prior treatment of aphthous ulcers with thalidomide.

Prior Medication:

Excluded:

  • Systemic and/or oral topical corticosteroids within 1 week prior to first set of bloods drawn.
  • Other putative immunomodulators within 2 weeks prior to study entry.
  • Prior thalidomide for aphthous ulcers.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Enrollment
164 participants

Interventions

06

Study locations

40 sites
  • Univ of Alabama at Birmingham
    Birmingham, Alabama 35294, United States
  • Univ of Southern California / LA County USC Med Ctr
    Los Angeles, California 900331079, United States
  • San Francisco AIDS Clinic / San Francisco Gen Hosp
    San Francisco, California 941102859, United States
  • Stanford at Kaiser / Kaiser Permanente Med Ctr
    San Francisco, California 94115, United States
  • Harbor UCLA Med Ctr
    Torrance, California 90502, United States
  • Univ of Colorado Health Sciences Ctr
    Denver, Colorado 80262, United States
  • Howard Univ
    Washington, District of Columbia 20059, United States
  • Univ of Miami School of Medicine
    Miami, Florida 331361013, United States
  • Queens Med Ctr
    Honolulu, Hawaii 96816, United States
  • Univ of Hawaii
    Honolulu, Hawaii 96816, United States
  • Northwestern Univ Med School
    Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
  • Cook County Hosp
    Chicago, Illinois 60612, United States
  • Rush Presbyterian - Saint Luke's Med Ctr
    Chicago, Illinois 60612, United States
  • Louis A Weiss Memorial Hosp
    Chicago, Illinois 60640, United States
  • Illinois Masonic Med Ctr
    Chicago, Illinois 606575147, United States
  • Indiana Univ Hosp
    Indianapolis, Indiana 462025250, United States
  • Harvard (Massachusetts Gen Hosp)
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
  • Beth Israel Deaconess - West Campus
    Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
  • Bronx Municipal Hosp Ctr/Jacobi Med Ctr
    Bronx, New York 10461, United States
  • Comprehensive Health Care Ctr / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10461, United States
  • Montefiore Adolescent AIDS Prog / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10461, United States
  • Montefiore Drug Treatment Ctr / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10461, United States
  • Montefiore Family Health Ctr / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10461, United States
  • Jack Weiler Hosp / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10465, United States
  • Montefiore Med Ctr / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10467, United States
  • North Central Bronx Hosp / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10467, United States
  • Bronx Veterans Administration / Mount Sinai Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10468, United States
  • SUNY / Erie County Med Ctr at Buffalo
    Buffalo, New York 14215, United States
  • Beth Israel Med Ctr
    New York, New York 10003, United States
  • Bellevue Hosp / New York Univ Med Ctr
    New York, New York 10016, United States
  • Mount Sinai Med Ctr / Pediatrics
    New York, New York 10029, United States
  • Mount Sinai Med Ctr
    New York, New York 10029, United States
  • SUNY / State Univ of New York
    Syracuse, New York 13210, United States
  • Univ of North Carolina
    Chapel Hill, North Carolina 275997215, United States
  • Case Western Reserve Univ
    Cleveland, Ohio 44106, United States
  • Milton S Hershey Med Ctr
    Hershey, Pennsylvania 170330850, United States
  • Thomas Jefferson Univ Hosp
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 191075098, United States
  • Meharry Med College
    Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
  • Univ of Washington
    Seattle, Washington 981224304, United States
  • Univ of Puerto Rico
    San Juan, 009365067, Puerto Rico
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Jacobson JM, Spritzler J, Fox L, Fahey JL, Jackson JB, Chernoff M, Wohl DA, Wu AW, Hooton TM, Sha BE, Shikuma CM, MacPhail LA, Simpson DM, Trapnell CB, Basgoz N. Thalidomide for the treatment of esophageal aphthous ulcers in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease AIDS Clinical Trials Group. J Infect Dis. 1999 Jul;180(1):61-7. doi: 10.1086/314834. PubMed 10353862 ↗
  • Jacobson JM, Greenspan JS, Spritzler J, Ketter N, Fahey JL, Jackson JB, Fox L, Chernoff M, Wu AW, MacPhail LA, Vasquez GJ, Wohl DA. Thalidomide for the treatment of oral aphthous ulcers in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases AIDS Clinical Trials Group. N Engl J Med. 1997 May 22;336(21):1487-93. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199705223362103. PubMed 9154767 ↗
  • Gilden D. Thalidomide and aphthous ulcers. GMHC Treat Issues. 1995 Nov;9(11):12. PubMed 11362988 ↗
  • Jacobson JM, Greenspan JS, Spritzler J, Fox L, Fahey JL, Jackson JB, Chernoff M, Wohl DA, Pulvirenti JJ, Hooton TM, Shikuma C. Thalidomide in low intermittent doses does not prevent recurrence of human immunodeficiency virus-associated aphthous ulcers. J Infect Dis. 2001 Jan 15;183(2):343-346. doi: 10.1086/317928. Epub 2000 Dec 15. PubMed 11120935 ↗
  • Aweeka F, Trapnell C, Chernoff M, Jayewardene A, Spritzler J, Bellibas SE, Lizak P, Jacobson J. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of thalidomide in HIV patients treated for oral aphthous ulcers: ACTG protocol 251. AIDS Clinical Trials Group. J Clin Pharmacol. 2001 Oct;41(10):1091-7. doi: 10.1177/00912700122012698. PubMed 11583477 ↗
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 4, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00000790
Collaborators
Andrulis Pharmaceuticals
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 31, 2001
Completion
Oct 1998
Last update
Nov 4, 2021

Study contacts

Jacobson JM
study chair
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Studies of the drug tested here: Thalidomide

Start the discussion