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WithdrawnNCT01280669SAVE-2Updated Oct 26, 2023

Intravitreal Sirolimus as Therapeutic Approach to Uveitis

A Phase 2 interventional study of Intravitreal injection 440mcg and Intravitreal injection of sirolimus 880mcg in Uveitis, Intermediate Uveitis and Posterior Uveitis, sponsored by Stanford University. Withdrawn at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-10-26.

Sponsored by Stanford University · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was withdrawn
Never started due to sponsor decision
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
0
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to find out about the safety and effectiveness of two different doses the study drug, sirolimus, administered intravitreally in patients with uveitis. The potential effectiveness of sirolimus can be utilized to control inflammation in uveitis and yet avoid the potential complications that are usually associated with the systemic use of the drug and other immunomodulatory therapies. In this study, the investigators will administer sirolimus inside the eye (intravitreally) in one of two doses (440mcg/mcL or 880mcg/mcL). Local administration of sirolimus to the eye is not expected to have effects on the rest of the body. Therefore, it may offer a safer way than the current methods used to control the inflammation caused by non-infectious uveitis.

Read the detailed description

Uveitis is a condition in which certain parts of your eye become inflamed. The inflammation is usually recurrent. If the inflammation is not treated adequately, permanent damage to the eye and to the vision may occur. The inflammation can be caused by infectious or non infectious causes. The current research is being done to determine the safety and the usefulness of treatment of non-infectious uveitis using different doses of intravitreal injections of a drug called sirolimus.

Current treatment options for uveitis include oral corticosteroids and drugs that weaken the immune system of the body (i.e., immunosuppressant drugs). Treatment using oral corticosteroids, especially for long periods, may cause many undesirable side effects and complications such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure, bone weakness, obesity, stomach ulcers, abnormal hair growth, and increased risks of infection. In addition to that, in some cases, the disease cannot be controlled even with the highest dose of steroids.

Injection of steroids around and inside the eye can be used to control uveitis. However, the inflammation does not always respond to such kind of treatment. The eyes may develop high pressure and cataract with injections of steroids into the eyes or around the eyes.

On the other hand, despite their potential effectiveness, treatment with drugs that weaken the immune system may cause severe side effects. Increased risk of infection is a common side effect of all the immunosuppressant drugs. The immune system protects the body from infections. When the immune system is suppressed, infections are more likely to happen. Some of these infections are potentially dangerous. Because the immune system protects the body against some forms of cancer, immunosuppressant drugs are also associated with a slightly increased risk of cancer. For example, long-term use of immunosuppressant drugs may carry an increased risk of developing skin cancer as a result of the combination of the drugs and exposure to sunlight. The immunosuppressive drugs are very powerful and can cause serious side effects such as high blood pressure, kidney problems, and liver problems. Some side effects may not show up until years after the medicine is used.

02

Conditions studied

  • Uveitis
  • Intermediate Uveitis
  • Posterior Uveitis
  • Panuveitis

Keywords

  • Non-infectious
  • Uveitis
  • Panuveitis
03

In context

Uveitis

299 studies on the registry are indexed under Uveitis; 32 are open to participants now.

Browse Uveitis studies →

Lead sponsor

Stanford University is the lead sponsor of 2,168 studies on the registry; 431 are open to participants now.

Of its 267 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 207 (78%) 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

  1. Males and females greater than or equal to 12 years of age.
  2. Able to give and attend all study visits.
  3. Have diagnosis of uveitis determined by the Investigator to be non-infectious based on the patient's medical history, history of present illness, ocular examination, review of systems, physical examination, and any pertinent laboratory evaluations.
  4. Meet the following criteria:

    • Have active uveitis, defined as having at least 1+ Vitreous Haze and/or at least 1+ Vitreous Cell Count (SUN scale), and:
    • are receiving no treatment; or
    • are receiving:

      • prednisone ≥ 10 mg/day (or equivalent dose of another ), or
      • at least 1 systemic other than corticosteroids, or
      • combination of prednisone ≥ 10 mg/day (or equivalent dose of another corticosteroid) and other systemic immunosuppressant.
    • Have inactive disease, defined as having 0.5+ Vitreous Haze or less and 0.5+ or less Vitreous Cell Count (SUN scale), and:
    • are receiving:

      • prednisone \<10 mg/day (or equivalent dose of another corticosteroid), or
      • at least 1 systemic immunosuppressant other than corticosteroids, or
      • combination of prednisone \<10 mg/day (or equivalent dose of another corticosteroid) and other systemic immunosuppressant.
    • Have posterior, intermediate, or panuveitis; for panuveitis, if an anterior component is present, it must be less than the posterior component.
    • Sufficient inflammation to require systemic treatment and, based on the Investigator's decision, warrants intravitreal treatment.
    • Best-corrected ETDRS visual acuity of 20/400 or better (approximately 20 letters) in the study eye.
    • Best-corrected ETDRS visual acuity of 20/400 or better in the fellow eye (approximately 20 letters).

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with bilateral uveitis who are receiving systemic therapy (e.g., methotrexate, cyclosporine, cyclophosphamide, chlorambucil, mycophenolate mofetil, tacrolimus, or azathioprine) other than prednisone or other for the treatment of uveitis and the uveitis in the fellow eye, in the opinion of the Investigator, cannot be controlled with standard local therapies alone;
  2. Any significant ocular disease that could compromise the visual outcome in the study eye.
  3. Intravitreal injections (including but not limited to anti-vascular endothelial growth factors 60 days prior to the baseline;
  4. Posterior subtenon's or intravitreal injection of steroids 90 days prior to Baseline;
  5. Intraocular surgery within 90 days prior to Day 0 in the study eye;
  6. Capsulotomy within 30 days prior to Day 0 in the study eye;
  7. History of vitreoretinal surgery or scleral buckling within 90 days prior to Day 0 in the study eye;
  8. Any ocular surgery (including cataract extraction or capsulotomy) of the study eye anticipated within the first 180 days following Day 0;
  9. Intraocular pressure ≥25 mmHg in the study eye (glaucoma patients maintained on no more than 2 topical medications with IOP \<25 mmHg are allowed to participate);
  10. Pupillary dilation inadequate for quality fundus photography in the study eye;
  11. Media opacity that would limit clinical visualization, intravenous fluorescein angiography (IVFA), or OCT evaluation in the study eye;
  12. Presence of any form of ocular in the study eye, including choroidal melanoma;
  13. History of herpetic infection in the study eye or adnexa;
  14. Presence of known active or inactive toxoplasmosis in either eye;
  15. Ocular or periocular infection in either eye;
  16. Participation in other drug or device clinical trials within 30 days prior to Day 0, or planning to participate in other investigational drug or device clinical trials within 180 days following Day 0. This includes both ocular and non-ocular clinical trials.
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.

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.

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.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

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.

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
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
0 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Group 1

    Intravitreal injections of 440mcg sirolimus (low-dose monthly group)

    Drug: Intravitreal injection 440mcg

  • Experimental
    Group 2

    Intravitreal injections of 880mcg sirolimus (high-dose every other month group)

    Drug: Intravitreal injection of sirolimus 880mcg

Interventions

  • DrugIntravitreal injection 440mcg

    Intravitreal injections of sirolimus 440mcg/20mcL at baseline and months 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

    Also known as: Low-dose, Monthly

  • DrugIntravitreal injection of sirolimus 880mcg

    Intravitreal injection of 880mcg/20mcL sirolimus at baseline and months 2 and 4.

    Also known as: High-dose, Bi-monthly

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Frequency of uveitic attacks as assessed by vitreous haze and cells.

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Incidence of adverse and serious adverse events

    Incidence, frequencey, and severity of adverse events reported during the first 6 months of the study period.

    Time frame: 6 months

  2. Changes in central retinal thickness

    Improvement or worsening of macular edema compared to baseline. Development of macular edema in patients with otherwise normal macualr thickness at baseline

    Time frame: 6 months

  3. Steroid sparing effect

    Proportion of subjects with active uveitis who achieve complete or partial response to sirolimus at month 6 while discontinuing their steroid therapy. Proportion of subjects with inactive uveitis who maintain quiscent study eyes at month 6 while discontinuing their steroid therapy.

    Time frame: 6 months

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Stanford University
    Palo Alto, California 94303, United States
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Start is estimated for Sep 2022; primary completion for Sep 2024, 24 months later.

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

Registered
Jan 20, 2011
First posted
Jan 21, 2011
StartEst.
Sep 2022
Primary completionEst.
Sep 2024
CompletionEst.
Dec 2024
Last update
Oct 26, 2023
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 Oct 26, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT01280669
Collaborators
Santen Inc.
Responsible party
Quan Dong Nguyen (Professor, Stanford University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jan 21, 2011
Start date
Sep 2022 (estimated)
Primary completion
Sep 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2024 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 26, 2023

Study contacts

Quan D Nguyen, MD, MSc
principal investigator · Stanford University Byers Eye Institute

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is withdrawn, as verified in Oct 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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