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TerminatedNCT01264861Updated Sep 18, 2017

A Study to Evaluate Safinamide's Effect on Dopamine and Serotonin's Availability by Using Brain Imaging

A Phase 2 interventional study of Safinamide in Parkinson Disease, sponsored by Newron Pharmaceuticals SPA. Terminated at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 40 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-09-18.

Sponsored by Newron Pharmaceuticals SPA · Phase 2, Interventional, and Basic science

Why this study was terminated
The Dopamine transporter brain imaging trial is terminated due to a company decision to return all rights for Safinamide back to Newron Pharmaceuticals
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
5
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
40 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a study of safinamide, an investigational drug for Parkinson disease (PD). Safinamide is being developed as add-on therapy for the treatment of Parkinson disease. It is theorized that safinamide acts by increasing the available dopamine in those areas of the brain where dopamine is decreased as a result of Parkinson;s Disease. . Dopamine in the brain is involved in controlling body movements. Safinamide has been extensively studied in animals, and has been shown to increase the level of dopamine in these animals. Safinamide has also been tested in patients with Parkinson disease. The goal of this research trial is to see if safinamide is safe and well tolerated and to better understand how it affects the dopamine system in the brain in individuals with Parkinson disease. Data from this trial may provide essential information about the effectiveness and safety of these doses of safinamide in patients with early Parkinson disease, who are already receiving a stable dose of their normal Parkinson disease treatment.

02

Conditions studied

  • Parkinson Disease

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Keywords

  • Evaluate dopamine and serotonin activity in the brain at 3 doses of Safinamide
03

In context

Parkinson Disease

4,573 studies on the registry are indexed under Parkinson Disease; 1,086 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 5 is below the median of 40 across 3,353 interventional studies indexed under Parkinson Disease.

Browse Parkinson Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

Newron Pharmaceuticals SPA is the lead sponsor of 22 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
40 Years to 80 Years
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

  1. Male or female, between 40-80 years of age.
  2. Subject must have a diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease, and a Hoehn and Yahr stage of I-III.
  3. Subjects must be concomitantly treated with a stable dose of a single dopamine agonist prior to the screening visit.
  4. Subjects must be able to understand and willing to sign an approved form.
  5. Female subjects must be neither pregnant or breast-feeding.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Subjects with any form of Parkinsonism other than idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
  2. Subjects currently experiencing motor fluctuations (end of dose wearing off), dyskinesias, or significant postural hypotension.
  3. Subjects treated with l-dopa, anticholinergics, amantadine, MAO inhibitors, COMT inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, and / or SSRI and SNRI antidepressants.
  4. Subjects with a history of psychosis, either previously or currently, or a score ≥ 3 on item 2 or 3 of the UPDRS Part I.
  5. Subjects with evidence of dementia or cognitive dysfunction.
  6. Subjects with current diagnosis of substance abuse or history of alcohol or drug abuse in the past three months.
  7. Subjects with current gastrointestinal, renal, hepatic, endocrine, pulmonary or cardiovascular disease, including hypertension that is not well controlled, asthma, , and Type I diabetes.
  8. Subjects with a concomitant disease likely to alter absorption, metabolism or elimination of the study drug.
  9. Female subjects must be neither pregnant nor lactating.
  10. Subjects with or to MAO-B inhibitors.
  11. Subjects with a neoplastic disorder, which is either currently active or has been in remission for less than one year.
  12. Subjects with second- or third-degree atrio-ventricular block or sick sinus syndrome, uncontrolled atrial fibrillation, severe or unstable angina, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction within three months of the screening visit, or significant abnormality, including ≥ 450 msec (males) or ≥ 470 msec (females), where QTc is based on Bazett's correction method.
  13. Subjects with a history or a current diagnosis of infection, or tests positive for surface antigen, tests positive for Hepatitis B core antibody, but negative for Hepatitis B surface antibody, or tests positive for antibodies.
  14. Subjects who have participated in a previous clinical trial with safinamide, have participated in a previous clinical trial within 30 days of entry into the study, or have received treatment with any compound within thirty days or five half-lives, whichever is longer, prior to screening.
  15. Subjects with any abnormality that the investigator deems to be clinically relevant.
  16. Legal incapacity or limited legal capacity
  17. Other significant disease that in the Investigator's opinion would exclude the subject from the trial.
  18. Treatment with a drug that has hepatotoxic potential within 4 weeks, or received radiation therapy or a drug with cytotoxic potential within one year prior to the screening visit.
  19. Ophthalmologic history including any of the following conditions: albino subjects, family history of hereditary retinal disease, progressive and/or severe diminution of visual acuity, retinitis pigmentosa, retinal pigmentation due to any cause, any active retinopathy or ocular inflammation, or diabetic retinopathy.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(11)

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.

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.

COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

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.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

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.

QT and QTc

On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.

The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.

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.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
5 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Arm 1:

    Arm 1: Eligible subjects will receive escalating doses of safinamide for the 6-week duration of treatment. Each dose level will be last 10-14 days. Doses 200mg and 300mg will have a 3 day intermediate step up dose, 150mg and 250mg dose.

    Drug: Safinamide

Interventions

  • Safinamide 100 mg/day = two 50 mg tablets administered orally, once a day, in the morning, with or without food. Safinamide 200 mg/day = four 50 mg tablets administered orally, once a day, in the morning, with or without food; this will be preceded by a three day titration of 150 mg = three 50 mg tablets administered orally, once a day, in the morning, with or without food. Safinamide 300 mg/day = six 50 mg tablets administered orally, once a day, in the morning, with or without food; this will be preceded by a three day titration of 250 mg = five 50 mg tablets administered orally, once a day, in the morning, with or without food.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. The percent change from baseline to steady state (end of dosing period for 100 mg daily safinamide doses) on quantitative determinations of occupancy of the dopamine transporter in striatum as determined by [123|] ß-CIT SPECT scanning.

    Time frame: Every two weeks for six weeks

  2. The percent change from baseline to steady state (end of dosing period for 200 mg daily safinamide doses) on quantitative determinations of occupancy of the dopamine transporter in striatum as determined by [123|] ß-CIT SPECT scanning.

    Time frame: Every two weeks for six weeks

  3. The percent change from baseline to steady state (end of dosing period for 300 mg daily safinamide doses) on quantitative determinations of occupancy of the dopamine transporter in striatum as determined by [123|] ß-CIT SPECT scanning.

    Time frame: Every two weeks for six weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. The percent change from baseline to steady state (end of dosing period for 100 mg daily safinamide doses) on quantitative determinations of occupancy of the serotonin transporter in brainstem as determined by [123|] ß-CIT SPECT scanning.

    Time frame: Every two weeks for six weeks

  2. The percent change from baseline to steady state (end of dosing period for 200 mg daily safinamide doses) on quantitative determinations of occupancy of the serotonin transporter in brainstem as determined by [123|] ß-CIT SPECT scanning.

    Time frame: Every two weeks for six weeks

  3. The percent change from baseline to steady state (end of dosing period for 300 mg daily safinamide doses) on quantitative determinations of occupancy of the serotonin transporter in brainstem as determined by [123|] ß-CIT SPECT scanning.

    Time frame: Every two weeks for six weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Molecular Neuroimaging, LLC
    New Haven, Connecticut 06510, United States
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Mar 2011 to primary completion in Jan 2012, 10 months.

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

Registered
Dec 20, 2010
First posted
Dec 22, 2010
StartActual
Mar 2011
Primary completionActual
Jan 2012
CompletionActual
Jan 24, 2012
Last update
Sep 18, 2017
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 Sep 18, 2017, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT01264861
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Dec 22, 2010
Start date
Mar 2011
Primary completion
Jan 2012
Completion
Jan 24, 2012
Last update
Sep 18, 2017

Study contacts

Kenneth Marek, MD
study director · Molecular Neuroimaging / Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is terminated, as verified in Sep 2017. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Safinamide

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