ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00282724Updated Sep 26, 2011

Efficacy and Safety of Two Doses of Liarozole vs. Placebo for the Treatment of Lamellar Ichthyosis

A Phase 2/3 interventional study of Liarozole in Ichthyosis, Lamellar, sponsored by Stiefel, a GSK Company. Completed at 16 sites in 9 countries. Open to participants aged 14 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2011-09-26.

Sponsored by Stiefel, a GSK Company (part of GlaxoSmithKline) · Phase 2/3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2/3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
98
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
14 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

Lamellar ichthyosis is a congenital disease of the skin with a generalized scaling. The primary activity of liarozole is considered to be the inhibition of the degradation of a substance called retinoic acid, which is the principal endogenous regulator of growth and differentiation of epithelial tissues in mammals. The current study intends to evaluate the efficacy and safety in patients with lamellar ichthyosis.

Read the detailed description

Lamellar ichthyosis is an autosomal recessive disorder that is apparent at birth and is present throughout life. Although the disorder is not life threatening, it is quite disfiguring and causes considerable psychological stress to affected patients. Prevalence is less than 1 case per 300,000 individuals. Treatment is mainly symptomatic i.e. emollients with or without keratolytic agents. Treatment with systemic retinoids is reserved for those patients, refractory to conventional therapy, because of the long-term adverse effects and teratogenicity of systemic retinoids.

Liarozole may provide a new concept for the treatment of this condition. Because of its mechanism of action, retinoic acid (RA) levels will only be increased in tissues that are targets for RA production.

The proposed Phase II/III study intends to evaluate the efficacy of liarozole compared with placebo, in patients with lamellar ichthyosis.

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Conditions studied

  • Ichthyosis, Lamellar

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Keywords

  • Lamellar ichthyosis
  • Liarozole
  • Investigator's Global Assessment
  • Scaling
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In context

Ichthyosis, Lamellar

7 studies on the registry are indexed under Ichthyosis, Lamellar; 1 is open to participants now.

Browse Ichthyosis, Lamellar studies →

Lead sponsor

Stiefel, a GSK Company is the lead sponsor of 56 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

First submitted before Stiefel became part of GlaxoSmithKline.

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

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
14 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

  • Subjects of either sex aged 14 years or older.
  • Clinical diagnosis of lamellar ichthyosis
  • Women of should use appropriate
  • Women of childbearing potential should have a negative pregnancy test at screening visit.
  • Subjects are, except for their lamellar ichthyosis, in good general health.
  • Subjects and legal representative(s), if applicable, signed .

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Subject is receiving topical (except emollient), UV treatment or systemic treatment for ichthyosis.
  • Subject is pregnant or breast feeding.
  • History or suspicion of alcohol or drug abuse.
  • Significant co-existing diseases.
  • abnormal
  • History of to retinoids or any of the ingredients in the trial medication.
  • Clinically relevant laboratory abnormalities at screening.
  • Use of immune-suppressive drugs including topical or systemic .
  • Participation in an trial 30 days prior to the start of the trial.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(8)

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.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

ECG (electrocardiogram)

A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

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.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

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Study design

Phase
Phase 2 / Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
98 participants (actual)

Interventions

  • DrugLiarozole
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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Efficacy: Investigator's Global Assessment

Secondary outcomes

  1. Overall Scaling Score

  2. Severity scores of other symptoms

  3. Quality of Life

  4. Safety and tolerability

  5. Pharmacokinetics

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Study locations

16 sites
  • Academisch Ziekenhuis Vrije Universiteit Brussel
    Brussels, Belgium
  • Geel
    Geel, Belgium
  • Hôpital Saint-Justine
    Montreal, Canada
  • Newlab Clinical Research Inc.
    St John, Canada
  • Instituto Dermatologico
    Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • Hôtel Dieu CHU
    Nantes, France
  • Tomesa Fachklinik
    Bad Salzschlirf, Germany
  • Dueren
    Dueren, Germany
  • Otto-von-Guericke-Universität
    Magdeburg, Germany
  • University Hospital Muenster
    Muenster, Germany
  • Fondazione Policlinico Mangiagalli e Regina Elena
    Milano, Italy
  • Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata
    Rome, Italy
  • Academisch Ziekenhuis Maastricht
    Maastricht, Netherlands
  • University Hospital Rotterdam
    Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • Rikshospitalet Universitetsklinikk
    Oslo, Norway
  • Uppsala University Hospital
    Uppsala, Sweden
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Van Wauwe JP, Coene MC, Goossens J, Cools W, Monbaliu J. Effects of cytochrome P-450 inhibitors on the in vivo metabolism of all-trans-retinoic acid in rats. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1990 Jan;252(1):365-9. PubMed 2299598 ↗
  • Van Wauwe J, Van Nyen G, Coene MC, Stoppie P, Cools W, Goossens J, Borghgraef P, Janssen PA. Liarozole, an inhibitor of retinoic acid metabolism, exerts retinoid-mimetic effects in vivo. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1992 May;261(2):773-9. PubMed 1374473 ↗
  • Van Wauwe J, Coene MC, Cools W, Goossens J, Lauwers W, Le Jeune L, Van Hove C, Van Nyen G. Liarozole fumarate inhibits the metabolism of 4-keto-all-trans-retinoic acid. Biochem Pharmacol. 1994 Feb 11;47(4):737-41. doi: 10.1016/0006-2952(94)90137-6. PubMed 8129749 ↗
  • Kang S, Duell EA, Kim KJ, Voorhees JJ. Liarozole inhibits human epidermal retinoic acid 4-hydroxylase activity and differentially augments human skin responses to retinoic acid and retinol in vivo. J Invest Dermatol. 1996 Aug;107(2):183-7. doi: 10.1111/1523-1747.ep12329579. PubMed 8757760 ↗
  • Dockx P, Decree J, Degreef H. Inhibition of the metabolism of endogenous retinoic acid as treatment for severe psoriasis: an open study with oral liarozole. Br J Dermatol. 1995 Sep;133(3):426-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.1995.tb02672.x. PubMed 8546999 ↗
  • Berth-Jones J, Todd G, Hutchinson PE, Thestrup-Pedersen K, Vanhoutte FP. Treatment of psoriasis with oral liarozole: a dose-ranging study. Br J Dermatol. 2000 Dec;143(6):1170-6. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2133.2000.03884.x. PubMed 11122017 ↗
  • Bhushan M, Burden AD, McElhone K, James R, Vanhoutte FP, Griffiths CE. Oral liarozole in the treatment of palmoplantar pustular psoriasis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Br J Dermatol. 2001 Oct;145(4):546-53. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2133.2001.04411.x. PubMed 11703279 ↗
  • Lucker GP, Heremans AM, Boegheim PJ, van de Kerkhof PC, Steijlen PM. Oral treatment of ichthyosis by the cytochrome P-450 inhibitor liarozole. Br J Dermatol. 1997 Jan;136(1):71-5. PubMed 9039298 ↗
  • Vahlquist A, Blockhuys S, Steijlen P, van Rossem K, Didona B, Blanco D, Traupe H. Oral liarozole in the treatment of patients with moderate/severe lamellar ichthyosis: results of a randomized, double-blind, multinational, placebo-controlled phase II/III trial. Br J Dermatol. 2014 Jan;170(1):173-81. doi: 10.1111/bjd.12626. PubMed 24102348 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 26, 2011, 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
NCT00282724
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 27, 2006
Start date
Jan 2006
Primary completion
Apr 2007
Completion
Apr 2007
Last update
Sep 26, 2011

Study contacts

Koen van Rossem, MD, PhD
study director · Barrier Therapeutics/ Stiefel, a GSK Company
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2011. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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