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CompletedNCT03404817Updated Jun 11, 2018

Single Dose Crossover Comparative Bioavailability and Food Effect Study of Two EMB-001 Formulations

A Phase 1 interventional study of Original formulation EMB-001 and New formulation EMB-001 in Cocaine Use Disorder, sponsored by Embera NeuroTherapeutics, Inc.. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-06-11.

Sponsored by Embera NeuroTherapeutics, Inc. · Phase 1, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was Jun 2018, 8 years 5 months ago, and no results have been posted to the registry.
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
9
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 60 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a study of EMB-001 (a combination of two FDA-approved drugs, metyrapone and oxazepam) in healthy adults.This is a Phase 1, single dose, 3-period, 3-sequence, crossover study in 9 healthy male and female (not of childbearing potential) volunteers. The study will evaluate the bioavailability and food effect of a new formulation of EMB-001 relative to the original formulation of EMB 001.

During the study, a total of 9 eligible subjects will be randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to each of 3 treatment sequences

02

Conditions studied

  • Cocaine Use Disorder
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Embera NeuroTherapeutics, Inc. is the lead sponsor of 6 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

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. Provide written prior to any study procedures.
  2. Age 18 to 60 and able to read and write English
  3. Females must be of non-. Evidence of non-childbearing potential includes documented surgical sterilization (hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy) or being . Menopause is defined clinically as 12 months of amenorrhea in a woman over age 45 in the absence of other biological or physiological cause. In addition, women must have a documented serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level >40 mIU/mL.
  4. Light smokers (\<10 cigarettes per day), non-smokers, or ex-smokers
  5. ≥18.5 and \<30 kg/m2
  6. Able to take oral medications and willing to adhere to medication regimen during the study
  7. No abnormal physical findings at the Screening examination
  8. without clinically significant abnormality at Screening
  9. Normal blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (systolic BP 90 to 140 mmHg; diastolic BP 50 to 90 mmHg; heart rate 50 to 100 beats per minute)
  10. No clinically relevant abnormal laboratory findings (general biochemistry, hematology, urinalysis, endocrinology [cortisol]) at Screening
  11. Adequate organ function at screening as defined by:

    1. Serum (AST) ≤ 2.5 × (ULN; unless the increased AST is assessed by the Investigator as due to hemolysis and/or hepatic iron deposition); and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ≤ 2.5 × ULN (unless the increased ALT is assessed by the Investigator as due to hepatic iron deposition).
    2. Normal or elevated levels of serum . Serum bilirubin >2× ULN is acceptable if the elevation is attributed to hemolysis with or without Gilbert's syndrome.
    3. Serum creatinine ≤ 1.25 × ULN. If serum creatinine > 1.25 × ULN, then 24-hour measured or calculated () ≥ 60 mL/min.
    4. (ANC) ≥ 1.2 × 109/L.
    5. count ≥ 100 × 109/L.
    6. (aPTT) and international normalized ratio ≤ 1.25 × ULN, unless the patient is receiving therapeutic anticoagulants.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Any significant current medical conditions (neurological, cardiovascular [including hypertension], endocrine, thyroid, renal, liver), seizures, delirium or hallucinations, or other unstable medical conditions
  2. Known to or intolerance of oxazepam or metyrapone, or any benzodiazepine
  3. Subjects that have confounders of the levels of cortisol and/or cortisol binding globulin, including but not limited to: consuming estrogens, selective estrogen receptor modulators, or herbal/natural estrogen-like compounds; low serum albumin or total protein at screening; history of cirrhosis; hyperthyroidism; other thyroid disease that is untreated and not well-controlled; nephrotic syndrome or other protein-losing enteropathies.
  4. Current substance use disorder. Mild tobacco, marijuana, or alcohol use are allowed.
  5. Participants who have a positive test result at intake appointment on urine drug screens conducted for illicit drugs, including cannabis.
  6. Treatment with an drug or biologic within the 30 days preceding the first dose of study medication or plans to take another investigational drug or biologic within 30 days of study completion (including the follow-up visit)
  7. Women of .
  8. Have positive serology test results at Screening for human immunodeficiency () 1/HIV 2 antibodies, surface antigen (HBsAg) or Antibody (HCVAb) before Day -2 of this study.
  9. Suicidal, homicidal thoughts and behaviors, or evidence of current severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or others that may interfere with subject safety or data integrity
  10. Use of serotonin reuptake inhibitor/serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor antidepressants in the 30 days prior to Period 1 or during the study.
  11. Use of any prescription, over-the-counter, or herbal medications, vitamins, or mineral supplements within 14 days prior to administration of their first study medication dose
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(20)

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.

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).

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

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.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)

Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.

Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.

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.

DSM diagnostic criteria

The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
9 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Sequence 1

    Subjects will receive investigational product (IP) once each Period as a single dose under fasted or fed conditions as follows: Period 1: EMB-001 new formulation under fed condition Period 2: EMB-001 new formulation under fasted conditions Period 3: EMB-001 original formulation under fed conditions

    Drug: Original formulation EMB-001 · Drug: New formulation EMB-001

  • Active comparator
    Sequence 2

    Subjects will receive investigational product (IP) once each Period as a single dose under fasted or fed conditions as follows: Period 1: EMB-001 original formulation under fed conditions Period 2: EMB-001 new formulation under fed conditions Period 3: EMB-001 new formulation under fasted conditions

    Drug: Original formulation EMB-001 · Drug: New formulation EMB-001

  • Active comparator
    Sequence 3

    Subjects will receive investigational product (IP) once each Period as a single dose under fasted or fed conditions as follows: Period 1: EMB-001 new formulation under fasted conditions Period 2: EMB-001 original formulation under fed conditions Period 3: EMB-001 new formulation under fed conditions

    Drug: Original formulation EMB-001 · Drug: New formulation EMB-001

Interventions

  • DrugOriginal formulation EMB-001

    Single oral dose (720 mg metyrapone/24 mg oxazepam)

  • DrugNew formulation EMB-001

    Single oral dose (720 mg metyrapone/24 mg oxazepam)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Area Under the Plasma Concentration-Time Curve Extrapolated to Infinity (AUC0-inf) of EMB-001

    The AUC0-inf is calculated in a plot of concentration of drug in blood plasma against time and extrapolated to infinity.

    Time frame: 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours post drug administration in each Period.

  2. Maximum Observed Concentration (Cmax) of EMB-001

    Cmax is the maximum observed concentration of drug in blood plasma.

    Time frame: Periods 1-3, pre-dose, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours post drug administration in each Period.

  3. Time to Maximum Concentration (Tmax) of EMB-001

    Tmax is the time elapsed from the time of drug administration to maximum plasma concentration.

    Time frame: Periods 1-3, pre-dose, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours post drug administration in each Period.

  4. Apparent Half-Life (t1/2) of EMB-001

    Half-life is defined as the time required for the drug plasma concentration to be reduced to half.

    Time frame: Periods 1-3, pre-dose, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours post drug administration in each Period.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Incidence of Treatment-Emergent Adverse Events (Safety and Tolerability)

    Adverse event data (including clinically significant changes in laboratory values) will be compiled for EMB-001.

    Time frame: 21 days

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Collaborative Neuroscience Network, LLC
    Long Beach, California 90806, United States
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 Jun 11, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03404817
Lead sponsor
Embera NeuroTherapeutics, Inc.
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 19, 2018
Start date
Mar 1, 2018
Primary completion
Jun 7, 2018
Completion
Jun 7, 2018
Last update
Jun 11, 2018

Study contacts

Mike Detke, MD
study director · Embera NeuroTherapeutics, Inc.

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 completed, as verified in Jun 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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