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WithdrawnNCT03928015Updated Jul 28, 2022

Evaluation of Dronabinol For Acute Pain Following Traumatic Injury

A Phase 2 interventional study of Adjunctive dronabinol and Systemic analgesics in Traumatic Injury and Pain, Acute, sponsored by CommonSpirit Health. Withdrawn at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-07-28.

Sponsored by CommonSpirit Health · Phase 2, Interventional, and Supportive care

Why this study was withdrawn
This trial did not enroll subjects. After initial approval we procured an appropriate placebo. Before IRB the amendment was approved, the COVID-19 pandemic placed a hold on all non-essential research activity at the enrolling hospital.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
0
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Single center, non-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Enrollment is based on ≥50 MME within 24 hours of admission, followed by a 24 hour screening/randomization window and a participation period extending through the acute hospitalization period.

A total of 122 adult patients admitted with a traumatic injury will be randomized 1:1 across 2 study arms: adjunctive dronabinol or systemic analgesics only. Patients randomized to the dronabinol arm should receive their first dose within 12 hours of randomization; patients will also receive PRN as needed systemic analgesics for pain. Except for the analgesia protocol, all other interventions will be equivalent for participants in both arms.

The clinical effects of analgesia treatment arm will be evaluated during the acute hospitalization (hospital admission through discharge or death). The primary efficacy endpoint will be assessed starting at 48 hours after randomization and carried through to discharge.

Read the detailed description

Single center, non-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Enrollment is based on ≥50 MME within 24 hours of admission, followed by a 24 hour screening/randomization window and a participation period extending through the acute hospitalization period.

A total of 122 adult trauma patients will be randomized 1:1 across 2 study arms: adjunctive dronabinol or systemic analgesics only. Patients randomized to the dronabinol arm should receive their first dose within 12 hours of randomization, starting with 5mg BID and adjusting within the range of 2.5mg - 10mg BID. Patients randomized to dronabinol will also receive PRN as needed systemic analgesics for pain. Except for the analgesia protocol, all other interventions are performed in the context of everyday clinical practice, and thus will be equivalent for participants in both arms.

The clinical effects of analgesia treatment arm will be evaluated during the acute hospitalization (hospital admission through discharge or death). The primary efficacy endpoint will be assessed starting at 48 hours after randomization and carried through to discharge.

The primary trial objective is to evaluate the efficacy of adjunctive dronabinol versus no adjunctive dronabinol (systemic analgesics only) on reduction in opioids in adult patients with traumatic injury.

The secondary trial objectives include: evaluation of the efficacy of dronabinol versus no dronabinol (systemic analgesics only) for pain numeric rating scale (NRS) scores, hospital length of stay, complications, and adverse effects associated with analgesia.

02

Conditions studied

  • Traumatic Injury
  • Pain, Acute

Keywords

  • marijuana
  • dronabinol
  • morphine milligram equivalents
03

In context

Acute Pain

876 studies on the registry are indexed under Acute Pain; 154 are open to participants now.

Browse Acute Pain studies →

Lead sponsor

CommonSpirit Health is the lead sponsor of 5 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 65 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. Male or female, 18 years to 65 years old (inclusive)
  2. Index admission for traumatic injury
  3. High initial morphine equivalent use ≥ 50 mg in the first 24 hours from admission
  4. Willing to divulge habitual marijuana usage (yes or no. Yes, habitual/chronic usage; no, recreational, former, or never usage)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients on a pain management agreement
  2. Patients who are nil per os (NPO) at the time of randomization or are expected to be NPO within the next 48 hours
  3. Patients who have received or are expected to receive neuraxial/locoregional blocks for pain within the next 48 hours
  4. Known allergy or previous hypersensitivity reaction to dronabinol or sesame oil
  5. Patients prescribed dronabinol between arrival and prior to screening/randomization
  6. Pregnancy or breast feeding
  7. Incarceration
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
0 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Adjunctive dronabinol

    Dronabinol 5mg BID and adjusting within the range of 2.5mg - 10mg BID, as an adjunct to systemic analgesics

    Drug: Adjunctive dronabinol

  • Active comparator
    Systemic analgesics

    Systemic analgesics only

    Drug: Systemic analgesics

Interventions

  • DrugAdjunctive dronabinol

    5mg BID and adjusting within the range of 2.5mg - 10mg BID, minimum of 48 hours, as an adjunct to systemic analgesics

    Also known as: Marinol

  • DrugSystemic analgesics

    multimodal analgesia including opioid and non-opioid analgesics

    Also known as: standard of care

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Morphine equivalent use

    Change in morphine milligram equivalent (MME) use

    Time frame: Post-randomization (48 hours after randomization) - pre-randomization (24 hours prior to randomization)

Secondary outcomes

  1. Pain scores

    Change in pain numeric rating scale (NRS) score, which is on a scale of 0-10. A value of 0 indications no pain and a value of 10 indicates highest level of pain

    Time frame: Post-randomization (48 hours after randomization) - pre-randomization (24 hours prior to randomization)

  2. Incidence of complications

    Analgesic complications and other hospital complications

    Time frame: Acute hospitalization period

  3. LOS

    Hospital LOS

    Time frame: Acute hospitalization period

07

Study locations

1 site
  • St. Anthony Hospital
    Lakewood, Colorado 80228, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Swartwood C, Salottolo K, Madayag R, Bar-Or D. Efficacy of Dronabinol for Acute Pain Management in Adults with Traumatic Injury: Study Protocol of A Randomized Controlled Trial. Brain Sci. 2020 Mar 12;10(3):161. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10030161. PubMed 32178232 ↗

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 28, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03928015
Lead sponsor
CommonSpirit Health
Responsible party
Claire Swartwood (Pharmacy Residency Program Director, CommonSpirit Health) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 25, 2019
Start date
Oct 1, 2019
Primary completion
Jun 29, 2021
Completion
Jun 29, 2021
Last update
Jul 28, 2022

Study contacts

Claire J Swartwood, PharmD
principal investigator · Centura Health - St. Anthony Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
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 Jul 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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