A Phase 2 interventional study of Deferiprone in Neurodegenerative Disease and Iron Overload, sponsored by Ente Ospedaliero Ospedali Galliera. Status unknown at 3 sites in Italy. Open to participants aged 1 Year to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-02-09.
Sponsored by Ente Ospedaliero Ospedali Galliera · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
This trial is a multicenter, unblinded, single-arm pilot study, lasting one year (plus one year extension Amendment n.3 25 August 2009, plus two years follow-up Amendment n.7) , to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the chelator therapy with deferiprone on cerebral iron accumulations. The drug will be administered in the dosage of 15 mg/kg twice daily. The safety and tolerability of the drug will be evaluated by measuring hemochrome every seven days with leukocyte formula count.
At 3, 6 and 12 months from the start of treatment, a neurological evaluation will be performed using several specific evaluation scales (International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS); Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS); Burke-Fahn-Marsden (BFM)).
Every 6 months of treatment, a brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) aimed at measuring iron overload quantitatively, if possible.
The time interval between Study Start Date and Study First Received was related to bureaucratic problems.
The treatment of systemic iron overload has in recent years improved notably since new drugs and new therapeutic combinations have become available for use. Conversely, therapies for the removal of regional iron overloads on the cerebral level have not been described in the literature.
As it is known, the symptoms resulting from a cerebral iron overload are strongly disabling, reducing the patient's autonomy. Considering that valid therapeutic alternatives of proven preventive and/or curative efficacy in these neurodegenerative diseases do not exist today, the use of lipophilic iron chelators must be considered as a possible therapeutic strategy worthy of deeper study.
Deferiprone is an oral active iron chelator, the use of which is authorized for the treatment of iron overload in patients affected by thalassemia major in conditions of "chelation not suitable for Desferal." In recent years, deferiprone has been applied extensively, demonstrating a good efficacy and tolerability profile.
Unlike deferoxamine, a hydrophilic drug, deferiprone presents chemical-physical characteristics (low molecular weight, favourable octanol:water partition coefficient, neutral charge) that guarantee drug good permeability of mitochondrial walls and the blood-brain barrier.
In a recent study deferiprone (commercial name Ferriprox) was used in 13 patients with Friedreich's ataxia (FA), also treated with idebenone (an experimental drug with an anti-oxidant action), compared with 9 patients affected by FA but treated only with Idebenone. The 9 patients who completed the 6 months of treatment with deferiprone were evaluated from a clinical point of view using the ICARS Scale (International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Score) before the start and after 1 and 6 months of therapy. They also performed a cerebral Magnetic Resonance Imaging before and after 1, 2, 4 and 6 months of treatment. The results were promising. In fact, after 6 months of therapy, a reduction in iron accumulation in specific cerebral areas involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease was demonstrated. The patients also presented a significant clinical improvement confirmed by the ICARS score.
Therefore the use of deferiprone, despite the possible side effects (such as gastrointestinal disturbances, a temporary increase in transaminases, and especially agranulocytosis found in about 1% of patients treated with deferiprone), currently represents the only possibility for removing and/or preventing the accumulation of iron in the central nervous system, curing and/or avoiding the most severe and debilitating consequences of a disease for which another therapy does not exist.
The Centers that specialize in the treatment of iron accumulation have acquired significant experience in the use of new oral iron chelators over the last 10 years, which permits deferiprone to be used carefully and safely in the three cases at hand. We therefore propose the use of this drug for treating patients who show neurological symptoms that can be correlated with a cerebral iron overload shown through MRI and who have not benefited from other therapies.
Exclusion criteria:
15 mg/Kg/twice for 1 year
Drug: Deferiprone
15 mg/Kg/twice for 1 year
Also known as: EU/1/99/108/002 Ferriprox 100 mg/ml Oral solution, EU/1/99/108/003 Ferriprox 100 mg/ml Oral solution
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the chelator therapy with deferiprone on cerebral iron accumulations.
Safety:CBC including ANC will be monitored weekly.If the liver enzymes are greater than 2.5 fold the upper limit of normal, the drug will be withheld and the assessment repeated in 1 week. If the laboratory values continue to be over 2.5 times the upper limit of normal or if the neutrophil counts decrease to less than 1.5 x 109/L (1500 cells/µl) the Patient will be withdrawn from the study. Neutropenia/Agranulocytosis is confirmed as an Absolute Neutrophil Count being less than 1.5 x 109/L (1500 cells/µl) if counts on two consecutive days are both less than 1.5 x 109 (1500 cells/µl).
Time frame: 6 months + 6 months (plus one year extension)
This study is status unknown, as verified in Feb 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions 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.
Ente Ospedaliero Ospedali Galliera