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CompletedNCT03847610MISBLUpdated Mar 27, 2024Results posted

Minimally Invasive Sensing of Beta-lactam Antibiotics

A Phase 1 interventional study of Phenoxymethyl Penicillin and Microneedle array in Healthy Volunteers, sponsored by Imperial College London. Completed at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-03-27.

Sponsored by Imperial College London · Phase 1, Interventional, and Device feasibility

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 9 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Apr 2018, registered Feb 2019).
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
11
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study is an in-house feasibility study of a microneedle biosensor developed within Imperial College London.

Read the detailed description

Outline of the study:

This study will comprise the recruitment of 10-15 healthy volunteers. They will be recruited to test the microneedle biosensors and undergo rich plasma sampling with or without tissue microdialysis to calibrate the microneedle biosensor and evaluate its accuracy against current gold standards (i.e. plasma drug concentration and tissue microdialysis). This study will take place at the Imperial Clinical Research Facility (CRF).

Patient identification:

Healthy volunteers will be recruited from a healthy volunteer database held within Imperial College London and via identification of participants within the College. An initial advertisement e-mail will be sent and individuals responding will then followed up by telephone and invited to attend a screening visit at the Imperial CRF. They will be sent the participant information leaflet in advance of this meeting to give them time to consider the information. At this visit a member of the research team will go through the study procedure and answer any questions that the participant has.

Consent procedure:

Healthy volunteers who wish to participate in the study after considering the participant information leaflet will be consented by a trained researcher who will complete the eligibility screening for inclusion into the study.

Study Methodology:

10-15 healthy volunteers will be invited to participate in an exploratory study of the sensor device. On their screening visit routine blood tests will be performed to ensure that the participant is not anaemic and has no evidence of current infection. Before the study day the participant will be required to take 5 doses of oral penicillin to ensure that they are at steady state and to allow for stabilization of tissue distribution. Four of these doses will be taken at 6-hour intervals on the day before they attend the Imperial CRF. The final dose will be taken on the morning that they attend.

On arrival at the study centre the participant will have a microneedle biosensor sited for up to 12 hours whilst receiving antimicrobial therapy. The sensor will be sited peripherally (on an arm or leg). In a small number of cases the sensor may be sited centrally on the torso. These sensors are connected to potentiostat devices that records data, which can then be downloaded onto a computer for analysis.

Following arrival on the study day and placing of the sensor devices, a cannula will be sited for phlebotomy and a baseline beta-lactam antibiotic concentration will be taken. A microdialysis fibre will also be inserted peripherally into tissue close to the microneedle device to allow gold standard analysis of tissue antibiotic concentration. The participant will then undergo rich plasma drug sampling with up to 15 blood tests taken over a 6-12 hour period.

Each blood test will involve the collection of 3mL extra blood (\<1 teaspoons) via a cannula which will be cited on commencement of the study. Microdialysis may be performed in all participants who consent to this as a gold standard for determining tissue drug concentrations. If they do not consent for this, the study will be able to continue without microdialysis being performed. Participants will also be required to complete a visual analogue scale every hour testing their level of discomfort due to the microneedle sensor device and a member of the research team will document any redness or skin changes around the site of the device. A further dose of penicillin will be given approximately 6 hours into the study.

Time points for the blood sampling are planned to initially be taken at (0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 360, 480, 600, 720 minutes). However, following initial pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis a D-optimal design will be employed using Pmetrics and BestDose PK software to determine the optimal time points for blood PK analysis. This will be performed by a trained member of the research team.

Clinically relevant data including demographic, co-morbidity, and medication data will be collected by members of the research team from the participant.

02

Conditions studied

  • Healthy Volunteers

Keywords

  • Pharmacokinetics
  • Penicillin V
  • Penicillins
  • Proof of Concept Study
  • Clinical Trial, Phase I
  • Microneedle array
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Imperial College London is the lead sponsor of 824 studies on the registry; 178 are open to participants now.

Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 6 (67%) 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
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Adult >18 years old
  • Healthy with no evidence of active infection
  • Previously received penicillin with no adverse effects

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • High risk of skin soft tissue infection or local skin and soft tissue infection near sensor site
  • Previous history of allergies to adhesive strips or active dermatitis
  • Penicillin allergy or previous adverse event whilst receiving penicillin
  • Anaemia on screening bloods (defined as haemoglobin \<13 g/dL in males and \<12 g/dL in females)
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Device feasibility
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
11 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Healthy volunteer

    Drug: Phenoxymethyl Penicillin · Device: Microneedle array

Interventions

  • DrugPhenoxymethyl Penicillin

    Phenoxymethylpenicillin tablets, 500mg every six hours for six doses, starting the day before study

  • DeviceMicroneedle array

    The microneedle biosensor will be sited peripherally (on the non-dominant arm) for the duration of the study. It will then be removed.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Assessment of the Biosensors Ability to Track Phenoxymethylpenicillin Concentrations Compared to Observations Made by Microdialysis and Blood Sampling

    Bland-Altman plot to describe agreement between interstitial phenoxymethylpenicillin concentrations and microneedle data (mean difference between microneedle and microdialysis measurements)

    Time frame: Up to 12 hours

07

Results

Posted Dec 29, 2020

Participant flow

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestoneHealthy Volunteer
Started11
Completed10
Not completed1
Withdrew: Withdrawal by subject1

Outcome measures

PrimaryAssessment of the Biosensors Ability to Track Phenoxymethylpenicillin Concentrations Compared to Observations Made by Microdialysis and Blood Sampling

Bland-Altman plot to describe agreement between interstitial phenoxymethylpenicillin concentrations and microneedle data (mean difference between microneedle and microdialysis measurements)

Time frame:
Up to 12 hours
Reported as:
Mean · mg/L
Assessment of the Biosensors Ability to Track Phenoxymethylpenicillin Concentrations Compared to Observations Made by Microdialysis and Blood Sampling
mg/LHealthy Volunteer
Assessment of the Biosensors Ability to Track Phenoxymethylpenicillin Concentrations Compared to Observations Made by Microdialysis and Blood Sampling-0.16 (-1.3 to 0.82)

Adverse events

Collected over Study day -1, and on the study day for each participant. Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
Healthy Volunteer0/10 (0%)0/10 (0%)0/10 (0%)

Baseline characteristics

Age, Continuous
Age, Continuous(years)Healthy Volunteer
Mean42 ± 14
Sex: Female, Male
Sex: Female, Male(Participants)Healthy Volunteer
Female3
Male7
Race and Ethnicity Not Collected
Race and Ethnicity Not Collected(Participants)Healthy Volunteer
Region of Enrollment
Region of Enrollment(participants)Healthy Volunteer
United Kingdom10
BMI
BMI(kg/m^2)Healthy Volunteer
Mean24 ± 3
Creatinine clearance
Creatinine clearance(mL/min)Healthy Volunteer
Mean114 ± 29
Height
Height(cm)Healthy Volunteer
Mean174 ± 11
Weight
Weight(kg)Healthy Volunteer
Mean74 ± 15
08

Study locations

1 site
  • NIHR Imperial CRF
    London, W12 0HS, United Kingdom
09

References and documents

Publications

  • Rawson TM, Gowers SAN, Freeman DME, Wilson RC, Sharma S, Gilchrist M, MacGowan A, Lovering A, Bayliss M, Kyriakides M, Georgiou P, Cass AEG, O'Hare D, Holmes AH. Microneedle biosensors for real-time, minimally invasive drug monitoring of phenoxymethylpenicillin: a first-in-human evaluation in healthy volunteers. Lancet Digit Health. 2019 Nov;1(7):e335-e343. doi: 10.1016/S2589-7500(19)30131-1. Epub 2019 Sep 30. PubMed 33323208 ↗

Study documents

  • Study protocol · Dec 6, 2017

Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

10

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 27, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03847610
Lead sponsor
Imperial College London
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 20, 2019
Start date
Apr 12, 2018
Primary completion
Aug 10, 2018
Completion
Aug 10, 2018
Results posted
Dec 29, 2020
Last update
Mar 27, 2024

Study contacts

Alison H Holmes, MD MPH MBBS
principal investigator · Health Protection Research Unit in HCAI & AMR

Oversight

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

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This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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