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CompletedNCT00001197Updated Dec 16, 2019

Hydroxyurea for the Treatment of Patients With Sickle Cell Anemia

A Phase 2 interventional study of Hydroxyurea in Sickle Cell Anemia, sponsored by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-12-16.

Sponsored by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
41
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

A total of fifty severely affected patients with homozygous sickle cell disease or other sickling disorders (e.g. B negative or B positive Thalassemia/Sickle) who are greater than 18 years of age will be eligible for treatment. Such patients must be able to tolerate an extensive period without blood transfusion and have relatively well preserved renal and hepatic function (creatinine less than 1.5 mg/dl and normal liver function test with exception of a mild elevation in transaminase). Evidence of severe sickle cell anemia will include recurrent pain crisis, chronic bone oain, evidence of aseptic necrosis with symptoms, and intractable leg ulcer, etc.

On admission to the study, each patient will receive a complete history and physical examination. These data and standard laboratory evaluation, including a test for pregnancy if appropriate, will be adequate to ascertain whether any of the criteria for exclusion are present. Each patient must accept responsibility for for using an effective means of contraception. Patients who are found to be HIV positive will be excluded from the study....

Read the detailed description

Hydroxyurea is a cell-cycle specific agent that blocks DNA synthesis by inhibiting ribonucleotide reductase, the enzyme that converts ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides. Hydroxyurea has been shown to induce the production of HbF, initially in non-human primates, and now in more than fifty patients with sickle cell anemia. The majority of patients with sickle cell disease respond to the drug with a more than two-fold increase in HbF levels; in some patients the percent of HbF exceeds 10 or 15 percent. It is estimated that levels of 20 percent are required to substantially reduce the sickling propensity of red cells and to modulate disease severity. We propose now to treat several patients chronically with hydroxyurea to monitor the durability of the response, to examine for unanticipated long term sided effects and to determine hematological changes occurring longitudinally. Such patients will be candidates for protocols determining the ability of other agents to enhance HbF synthesis, especially in hydroxyurea non-responders. Finally, a series of in vitro studies are planned to attempt to develop predictors of response.

02

Conditions studied

  • Sickle Cell Anemia

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Keywords

  • Gene Expression Therapy
  • Gamma Globin Gene
  • Hemoglobin Switching
  • Bone Marrow
  • Sickle Cell Anemia
03

In context

Anemia, Sickle Cell

1,125 studies on the registry are indexed under Anemia, Sickle Cell; 239 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 41 is close to the median of 40 across 762 interventional studies indexed under Anemia, Sickle Cell.

Browse Anemia, Sickle Cell studies →

Lead sponsor

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is the lead sponsor of 1,143 studies on the registry; 72 are open to participants now.

Of its 58 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 50 (86%) have results posted.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 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

A total of fifty severely affected patients with homozygous sickle cell disease or other sickling disorders (e.g., B negative or B positive Thalassemia/Sickle) who are greater than 18 years of age will be eligible for treatment. Such patients must be able to tolerate an extensive period without blood transfusion and have relatively well preserved renal and hepatic function (creatinine less than 1.5 mg/dl and normal liver function test with exception of a mild elevation in transaminase). Evidence of severe sickle cell anemia will include recurrent pain crisis, chronic bone pain, evidence of aseptic necrosis with symptoms, and intractable leg ulcers, etc.

Exclusion criteria

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Patients who are found to be HIV positive will be excluded from the study.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Enrollment
41 participants (actual)

Interventions

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. An increment in fetal hemoglobin production as a result of hydroxyurea.

07

Study locations

1 site
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike
    Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
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References and documents

Publications

  • Rodgers GP, Dover GJ, Noguchi CT, Schechter AN, Nienhuis AW. Hematologic responses of patients with sickle cell disease to treatment with hydroxyurea. N Engl J Med. 1990 Apr 12;322(15):1037-45. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199004123221504. PubMed 1690857 ↗
  • Fibach E, Burke LP, Schechter AN, Noguchi CT, Rodgers GP. Hydroxyurea increases fetal hemoglobin in cultured erythroid cells derived from normal individuals and patients with sickle cell anemia or beta-thalassemia. Blood. 1993 Mar 15;81(6):1630-5. PubMed 7680923 ↗
  • Rodgers GP, Dover GJ, Uyesaka N, Noguchi CT, Schechter AN, Nienhuis AW. Augmentation by erythropoietin of the fetal-hemoglobin response to hydroxyurea in sickle cell disease. N Engl J Med. 1993 Jan 14;328(2):73-80. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199301143280201. PubMed 7677965 ↗
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Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Feb 1984, a primary completion of Dec 2003 and a completion of May 2015. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Nov 3, 1999
First posted
Nov 4, 1999
Start
Feb 7, 1984
Primary completionActual
Dec 21, 2003
CompletionActual
May 18, 2015
Last update
Dec 16, 2019
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 16, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00001197
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Nov 4, 1999
Start date
Feb 7, 1984
Primary completion
Dec 21, 2003
Completion
May 18, 2015
Last update
Dec 16, 2019

Study contacts

Griffin P Rodgers, M.D.
principal investigator · National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in May 2015. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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