ClinicalTrials.gg
TerminatedNCT03283397Updated Aug 13, 2024

A Phase IIIb, Multicenter, International Study to Evaluate the Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability of EK-12 in Patients With RRMS

A Phase 3 interventional study of EK-12 and INF beta-1a in Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting, sponsored by Bosnalijek D.D. Terminated at 1 site in Turkey. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 55 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-08-13.

Sponsored by Bosnalijek D.D · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was terminated
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the study was unable to enrol further patients.
Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
301
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 55 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune, inflammatory neurological disease of the central nervous system. It is the most common disabling neurologic disease of young people. This study is planned for the evaluation of efficacy, safety and tolerability of neuropeptide combination of metenkefalin and tridecactide (EK-12) as compared to INF beta-1a (REBIF®) in patients with RRMS. The primary objective of this study is to prove the superiority of efficacy of neuropeptide combination of metenkefalin and tridecactide (EK-12) compared to INF beta-1a (REBIF®) in patients with RRMS on the basis of annualized protocol defined relapse rate by 144 weeks.

02

Conditions studied

  • Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting
03

In context

Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting

618 studies on the registry are indexed under Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting; 82 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 301 is above the median of 66 across 437 interventional studies indexed under Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting.

Browse Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting studies →

Lead sponsor

Bosnalijek D.D is the lead sponsor of 6 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 55 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. Patients from both genders with a confirmed and documented diagnosis of MS as defined by the Revised McDonald criteria (2010), with relapse onset disease or a relapsing-remitting disease course, between 18 and 55 years of age at screening (inclusive).
  2. Ambulatory patients with EDSS score of 0 to 4.5 at both screening and randomization visits.
  3. Patients who meet one of the following disease activity criteria:

    • At least 1 documented relapse within the last 12 months prior to screening or;
    • At least 1 documented relapse occurred within the last 24 months prior to screening and documented evidence of at least 1 Gadolinium Enhancing (GdE) lesion on brain MRI scan within the last 12 months prior to randomization.
  4. Patients with a confirmed stable neurological condition, who are relapse-free and not on a treatment [intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM) and/or per os (PO)] or adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) treatment, at least 30 days prior to randomization.
  5. Women of (e.g. women who are not or surgically sterilized) must practice an acceptable method of for 30 days before taking the study drug and two acceptable methods of birth control during the duration of the study and until 30 days after the last dose of study medication. Acceptable methods of birth control include: intrauterine devices, barrier method (condom with spermicide or diaphragm with spermicide) and hormonal methods of birth control (e.g. oral contraceptive, contraceptive patch, and long-acting injectable contraceptive).
  6. Patients must be able to sign and date a written Form (ICF) prior to entering the study.
  7. Patients must be willing and able to comply with the study protocol requirements for the duration of the study

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with progressive forms of MS.
  2. Patients with disease duration of ≥10 years.
  3. Inability to complete an MRI examination. for MRI examination include but are not restricted to overweight, pacemaker, cochlear implants, presence of foreign substances in the eye, intracranial vascular clips, surgery within 6 weeks of entry into the study, coronary stent implanted within 8 weeks prior to the time of the intended MRI, etc.
  4. Patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) or NMO spectrum disorders.
  5. Use of experimental or drugs and/or participation in drug clinical studies within 6 months prior to randomization.
  6. Use of agents or cytotoxic agents, including cyclophosphamide within 6 months prior to randomization.
  7. Use of either of the following agents within 2 years prior to randomization: natalizumab, rituximab, ocrelizumab, atacicept, belimumab, or ofatumumab.
  8. Use of teriflunomide within 2 years prior to randomization, except if active washout (with either cholestyramine or activated charcoal) was done 2 months or more prior to randomization.
  9. Previous treatment with glatiramer acetate, interferon-beta (either 1a or 1b), fingolimod, dimethyl fumarate or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) within 2 months prior to randomization.
  10. Chronic (more than 30 consecutive days) systemic (IV, IM or PO) treatment within 30 days prior to randomization.
  11. Previous use of mitoxantrone, cladribine, or alemtuzumab.
  12. Previous use of EK-12.
  13. Previous total body irradiation or total lymphoid irradiation.
  14. Previous stem cell treatment, bone marrow transplantation or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.
  15. Use of moderate/strong inhibitors of within 2 weeks prior to randomization (Appendix VII provides a list of such medications that are disallowed prior to and during the study).
  16. Use of inducers of CYP3A4 within 2 weeks prior to randomization (Appendix VII provides a list of such medications that are disallowed prior to and during the study).
  17. Pregnancy or breastfeeding.
  18. Serum levels ≥3x (ULN) of either (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) at screening.
  19. Serum direct ≥2x ULN at screening.
  20. Patients with or unstable medical or surgical condition or any other condition that cannot be well controlled by the allowed medications permitted by the study protocol that would preclude safe and complete study participation, as determined by medical history, physical examinations, Electrocardiography (), laboratory tests, MRI scan or chest X-ray. Such conditions may include:

    1. A major cardiovascular event (e.g. myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, de-compensated congestive heart failure, pulmonary embolism, coronary revascularization) that occurred during the past 6 months prior to randomization.
    2. Any acute pulmonary disorder
    3. A Central Nervous System (CNS) disorder other than MS that may jeopardize the patient's participation in the study, including such disorders that are demonstrated at the baseline MRI scan.
  21. Chronic renal insufficiency as (GFR) ≤60 mL/min at the screening visit.
  22. Patients who use haloperidol or dopamine antagonists.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(16)

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.

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.

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.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Allogeneic and autologous transplant

Stem cell (bone marrow) transplants. Allogeneic uses cells from a donor; autologous uses your own cells, collected earlier and given back.

CYP3A (CYP3A4) inhibitors and inducers

CYP3A is a group of enzymes, mainly CYP3A4, in the liver and gut that break down many medicines. Some medicines, supplements and foods (grapefruit, St John’s wort) slow them down or speed them up, which changes how much of a study drug stays in the body.

Studies list them so they can be avoided or switched; bring a list of everything you take, including supplements.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

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.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
301 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    EK-12

    This arm will be treated with 12 mg EK-12 in 2 mL 0.9 % NaCl solution (SC, three times per week) for 144 weeks

    Drug: EK-12

  • Active comparator
    INF Beta-1a

    This arm will be treated with 44 mg INF Beta-1a in 0.5 mL solution (SC, three times per week) for 144 weeks

    Drug: INF beta-1a

Interventions

  • DrugEK-12

    10 mg metenkefalin acetate + 2 mg tridecactide acetate in 2 mL 0.9 % NaCl solution.

  • DrugINF beta-1a

    Active substance is INF beta-1a, 44 mcg in 0.5 mL solution

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Superiority of efficacy of EK-12 to interferon beta-1a in patients with RRMS

    The primary objective of this study is to prove the superiority of efficacy of neuropeptide combination of metenkefalin and tridecactide (EK-12) compared to interferon beta-1a (INF beta-1a, 44 mcg, REBIF®) in patients with RRMS on the basis of annualized protocol defined relapse rate (ARR) by 144 weeks.

    Time frame: weeks 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108, 120, 132, 144

Secondary outcomes

  1. EDSS score

    slowing the progression of disability, assessed by EDSS score

    Time frame: weeks 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108, 120, 132, 144

  2. clinical attacks

    reducing the rate of clinical attacks

    Time frame: weeks 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108, 120, 132, 144

  3. T2 lesions

    reducing the total number of new and/or enlarging T2-hyperintense lesions

    Time frame: weeks 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108, 120, 132, 144

  4. T1 lesions

    reducing the total number of Gd (+) T1 lesions on MRI scan

    Time frame: weeks 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108, 120, 132, 144

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Kocaeli University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology
    Kocaeli, Turkey
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 13, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03283397
Lead sponsor
Bosnalijek D.D
Collaborators
MonitorCRO
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 14, 2017
Start date
Mar 26, 2019
Primary completion
Jul 1, 2023
Completion
Jul 1, 2023
Last update
Aug 13, 2024

Study contacts

Husnu Efendi, Prof
principal investigator · Kocaeli University

Oversight

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

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

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