CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT02807922Updated Jul 16, 2021

Pharmacological Treatment of Insomnia in Palliative Care

A Phase 4 interventional study of Zopiclone and Placebo in Sleep and Insomnia, sponsored by St. Olavs Hospital. Completed at 5 sites in Norway. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-07-16.

Sponsored by St. Olavs Hospital · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
43
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Sleep disturbance is frequent in patients with advanced cancer and decreases the tolerability of other symptoms and impairs quality of life. A detailed description of sleep disturbance and its association with other symptoms, and intervention studies on sleep medications are scarce in patients with advanced cancer. A well-designed randomized controlled trial is needed to determine the short time effectiveness of zopiclone on sleep quality, one of the currently available therapies of insomnia, and further to contribute to the clinical management of insomnia in patients with advanced cancer.

Read the detailed description

The clinical trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel-group, multicenter trial investigating the short time effectiveness of zopiclone on self-reported sleep quality in patients with advanced cancer who use opioids and who report insomnia. Patients with advanced cancer who use opioids and who report insomnia are randomized to either a hypnotic, zopiclone (Arm A) or placebo (Arm B) for six nights. For this study zopiclone Actavis 3.75 mg, 5 mg and 7.5 mg (active comparator) and placebo are defined as Investigational Medicinal Products. The initial dose is zopiclone/placebo 3.75 mg/day. Evaluation of sleep quality is performed in the morning after night 2 and 4 with evaluation of sleep quality by using a numerical rating scale 0-10 with the question "Please circle the number that best describes how you feel now" 0= Best sleep, 10= Worst possible sleep.

02

Conditions studied

  • Sleep
  • Insomnia

Keywords

  • Palliative Care
  • zopiclone
03

In context

Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

1,855 studies on the registry are indexed under Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; 593 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 43 is below the median of 73 across 1,631 interventional studies indexed under Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders.

Browse Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

St. Olavs Hospital is the lead sponsor of 165 studies on the registry; 30 are open to participants now.

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

Inclusion criteria

  1. Histologically verified malignant disease
  2. Presence of metastatic / disseminated disease
  3. Presence of insomnia syndrome defined as:

    1. Self-reported difficulty with initiating sleep (greater than 30 minutes to sleep onset) and/or difficulty maintaining sleep (greater than 30 minutes nocturnal waking time); and
    2. Sleep difficulty at least 3 nights per week; and
    3. Sleep difficulty that causes significant impairment of daytime functioning (The patient will be asked if sleep difficulty result in altered daytime function i.e. feeling tired, lack of energy)
  4. Able to comply with all study procedures
  5. Signed informed consent and expected cooperation of the patients for the treatment and follow up must be obtained and documented according to ICH GCP, and national/local regulations.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. On-going treatment or previous treatment (within last 4 weeks) for more than consecutive 3 days with medications given for insomnia
  2. Adverse reactions to zopiclone
  3. History of substance abuse
  4. Concomitant use of rifampicin and erythromycin
  5. Any other contraindication listed on the summary of product characteristics of the investigated medicinal product:

    1. Myasthenia gravis
    2. An established diagnosis of Severe impairment of respiratory function
    3. An established diagnosis of Severe hepatic insufficiency.(Child-Pugh grade B or C)
    4. An established diagnosis of sleep apnea
    5. Known hypersensitivity to the drug or to any component in its formulation: Lactose monohydrate, Calcium hydrogen phosphate, Maize starch, Croscarmellose sodium, Magnesium stearate, Titanium dioxide (E 171), Hypromellose, Iron oxide yellow/Iron oxide red (E 172) and Macrogol
  6. Unfit for participation for any reason as judged by the investigator
  7. Pregnancy or lactation
  8. Women of reproductive age not willing or unable to employ an effective method of contraception (sterilization, using IUD or oral contraception)
  9. Scheduled surgery within the next week
  10. In the need of change in scheduled opioid dose at baseline (study visit 1)
  11. Scheduled intravenous administration of chemotherapy during the study period (from baseline to day 8) or intravenous administration of chemotherapy during the last week
  12. Change in corticosteroid dose last week before baseline or planned dose change in corticosteroid dose within 7 days from baseline
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator)
Enrollment
43 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Zopiclone

    Zopiclone six nights

    Drug: Zopiclone

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo

    Placebo six nights

    Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • DrugZopiclone
  • DrugPlacebo
06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Patient-reported sleep quality

    Primary endpoint is patient-reported sleep quality during the final study night (night six) assessed on a numerical rating scale (NRS) 0-10. 0= Best sleep, 10=Worst possible sleep.

    Time frame: Night six (last study night)

Secondary outcomes

  1. Patient reported total sleep time

    Time frame: Night six (last study night)

  2. Patient reported sleep onset latency

    Sleep onset latency (how long (minutes) it takes to fall asleep

    Time frame: Night six (last study night)

07

Study locations

5 sites
  • Sunniva senter for lindrende behandling, Haraldsplass Diakonale sykehus
    Bergen, 5892, Norway
  • sykehuset Levanger
    Levanger, 7601, Norway
  • Helse Sør-Øst RHF, Sykehuset i Telemark,
    Skien, 3710, Norway
  • St. Olavs Hospital
    Trondheim, 7006, Norway
  • Helse Sør-Øst RHF, Sykehuset i Vestfold,
    Tønsberg, 3103, Norway
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Jakobsen G, Engstrom M, Paulsen O, Sjue K, Raj SX, Thronaes M, Hjermstad MJ, Kaasa S, Fayers P, Klepstad P. Zopiclone versus placebo for short-term treatment of insomnia in patients with advanced cancer: study protocol for a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical multicenter trial. Trials. 2018 Dec 27;19(1):707. doi: 10.1186/s13063-018-3088-3. PubMed 30591073 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 16, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02807922
Lead sponsor
St. Olavs Hospital
Collaborators
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 21, 2016
Start date
Nov 15, 2016
Primary completion
Jul 13, 2021
Completion
Jul 13, 2021
Last update
Jul 16, 2021

Study contacts

Pål Klepstad
principal investigator · St. Olavs Hospital

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions 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.

Start the discussion