ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04262336Updated Jul 6, 2023

Study to Evaluate Safety and Efficacy of DB-020 to Protect Hearing in Patients Receiving Cisplatin for Cancer Treatment

A Phase 1 interventional study of DB-020 and Placebo in Ototoxicity, sponsored by Decibel Therapeutics. Completed at 8 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-07-06.

Sponsored by Decibel Therapeutics (part of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals) · Phase 1, Interventional, and Prevention

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was Jul 2022, 4 years 3 months ago, and no results have been posted to the registry.
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
22
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether DB-020 administered via an injection in the middle ear prevents hearing loss in participants who will receive high doses of cisplatin as part of their treatment for cancer.

Read the detailed description

Cisplatin is a widely used and effective chemotherapy in the treatment of adult and pediatric solid tumors, including bladder, testicular, head and neck, and lung cancers. Serious side effects of cisplatin treatment include ototoxicity. To date, no approved therapy to prevent or treat ototoxicity exists for people receiving cisplatin treatment, which remains the most common dose-limiting side effect associated with cisplatin administration.

Participants who will be undergoing cancer treatment with high doses of cisplatin every 21 or 28 days will receive IT injection with one ear receiving DB-020 and one ear receiving placebo during each administration. The study will comprise 2 parts. In Part A, eligible participants will be randomized to one of two doses of DB-020. In Part B, participants will be treated with a single dose of DB-020, as selected from data collected in Part A. In both Parts A and B, the ear receiving DB-020 or placebo will be randomized. The choice of dose in Part B will depend on the data from Part A. If appropriate safety and efficacy is observed at either dose level, the Sponsor has the option of dosing at one of these concentrations either unilaterally (ie, with placebo administered in the contralateral ear) or bilaterally (ie, open-label DB-020 administered to both ears) in Part B.

02

Conditions studied

  • Ototoxicity

Keywords

  • Ototoxicity
  • Hearing loss
  • Chemotherapy-induced
03

In context

Ototoxicity

49 studies on the registry are indexed under Ototoxicity; 15 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 22 is below the median of 47 across 33 interventional studies indexed under Ototoxicity.

Browse Ototoxicity studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Decibel Therapeutics as lead sponsor.

First submitted before Decibel Therapeutics became part of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

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

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

  • Ability to communicate with medical team and staff, willingness to participate in the study, give written , comply with the study restrictions
  • Adults aged 18 years, inclusive, or older
  • Treatment for cancer with Intervenous cisplatin once every 21 or 28 days
  • Plan to receive a minimum cumulative dose of cisplatin of ≥ 280 mg/m2 over at least three cycles
  • Concomitant use of other chemotherapy and radiation is permitted except agents and/or radiation > 35 Grays involving the cochlear area
  • Male patients, their female partner(s), and female patients of must agree to use 2 forms of , 1 of which must be a barrier method, during the study and for 90 days after the last study drug administration.
  • Male and female patients who consider themselves abstinent, and who agree to remain abstinent during the study and for 90 days after the last study drug administration
  • (ECOG) performance status 0 to 2
  • Anticipated survival > 1 year
  • Normal or not otoscopic findings in both ears
  • Patient has read, understood, and voluntarily signed the informed consent form.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Female or male patients with female partners who are pregnant, lactating, or planning to attempt to become pregnant during this study or within 90 days after last dose of study drug
  • Prior treatment with a cisplatin regimen
  • Signs of disturbed integrity of the tympanic membrane on otoscopy or tympanometry
  • History of congenital hearing loss
  • History of otological surgery (excluding myringotomy tubes or simple tympanoplasty)
  • History of sudden hearing loss
  • History of conductive hearing loss > 10 decibels at 2 frequencies in either ear
  • Diagnosis of Meniere's disease
  • Diagnosis of middle ear disease
  • Hearing loss greater than (not including) 45 decibels Hearing Loss averaged at 6 and 8 kilohertz in either ear
  • Asymmetry in hearing thresholds between left and right ear equal to or exceeding 20 decibels at any single frequency or 10 decibels at any 3 consecutive frequencies, up to and including 8 kilohertz
  • Previous radiation exposure > 35 Grays to all or part of the cochlea
  • Consumption of > 6 grams of salicylate or > 5 grams of acetaminophen (paracetamol) per day for the past month, or aminoglycoside use in the past month
  • Use of any drug or device within 30 days prior to the first dose of study medication (6 months for biologic therapies) or 5 half-lives of the investigational drug, if known, whichever time is longer
  • History of any significant drug allergy (such as anaphylaxis or hepatotoxicity) and/or allergy to the of the study medications
  • Presence of antibody with reflex hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA testing (if anti-HCV is positive), surface antigen, or antibodies 1 and 2
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(11)

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.

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.

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.

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.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

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.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Excipients

The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
22 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    DB-020 for Injection, 12%/placebo

    dosage

    Drug: DB-020 · Drug: Placebo

  • Active comparator
    DB-020 for Injection, 25%/placebo

    dosage

    Drug: DB-020 · Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • DrugDB-020

    Drug page: Sodium thiosulfate

    Injectable sterile viscous solution of DB-020 and sodium hyaluronate in sterile water

    Also known as: Sodium Thiosulfate (STS) pentahydrate formulated in sodium hyaluronate

  • DrugPlacebo

    Injectable sterile viscous solution of sodium hyaluronate in sodium chloride

    Also known as: sodium hyaluronate in sodium chloride

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of patients with treatment-emergent Adverse Events (TEAEs) and/or abnormal changes from baseline in clinical laboratory abnormalities and/or vital signs and/or ECG assessments

    To investigate the safety and tolerability of DB-020 when given intratympanically to patients receiving cisplatin chemotherapy treatment

    Time frame: From screening/baseline (Day -28 to Day -2) or day of first dose of DB-020 (Cycle 1 Day 1) for up to 6 cycles (21 or 28 day cycles) through End of Treatment Visit (28 days after last dose of study drug), up to 196 Days after first dose of study drug

Secondary outcomes

  1. Incidence of Ototoxicity measured by American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) criteria

    Air conduction audiometry consists of a set of pure tones presented to the patient through small speakers in a headset, played at carrier frequencies ranging from 250 to 16,000 Hz. Pure tone thresholds are recorded for each frequency tested. Ototoxicity will be defined according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) criteria for significant ototoxic change. Significant ototoxic change must meet one of the following three criteria: (i) ≥20 dB decrease at any one test frequency, (ii) ≥10 dB decrease at any two adjacent frequencies, or (iii) loss of response at three consecutive frequencies where responses were previously obtained. The presence of ototoxicity will be calculated for each ear

    Time frame: Baseline (Day -5 to Day -1) for up to 6 cycles (21 or 28 day cycles) through End of Treatment Visit (28 days after last dose of study drug), up to 196 Days after first dose of study drug

  2. Changes from Baseline in Pure Tone Threshold Values compared to End of Treatment [Changes in Hearing]

    Air conduction audiometry consists of a set of pure tones presented to the patient through small speakers in a headset, played at carrier frequencies ranging from 250 to 16,000 Hz. Pure tone thresholds are recorded for each frequency tested. Higher values indicate a greater degree of hearing impairment. Changes from baseline values will be calculated for each frequency and ear as the reported pure tone threshold value minus the baseline value. A negative change from baseline indicates hearing loss

    Time frame: Baseline (Day -5 to Day -1) for up to 6 cycles (21 or 28 day cycles) through End of Treatment Visit (28 days after last dose of study drug), up to 196 Days after first dose of study drug

  3. Changes from Baseline in Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) Total Score compared to End of Treatment [Changes in Hearing]

    The TFI is a 25-item self-assessment scale comprised of eight subscales (intrusiveness, sense of control, cognitive, sleep, auditory, relaxation, quality of life, and emotional) measuring the impact of tinnitus. Items are scored on a range of 0 to 10. The TFI Total Score is calculated as the mean of the 25 individual item scores multiplied by 10. The Total Score can range from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate a greater degree of tinnitus-related impairment. Change from baseline values will be calculated as the reported TFI value minus the baseline value. A positive change from baseline indicates more tinnitus-related impairment

    Time frame: Baseline (Day -5 to Day -1) for up to 6 cycles (21 or 28 day cycles) through End of Treatment Visit (28 days after last dose of study drug), up to 196 Days after first dose of study drug

  4. Changes from Baseline in Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) Values compared to End of Treatment [Changes in Hearing]

    Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) is defined as sound generated within the cochlea by stimulating the ear with two simultaneous tones of different frequency. DPOAEs serve as an objective measure of hearing sensitivity. Tones will be played from low to high frequencies (1 to 4 kHz) at soft to moderate levels to assess responses at different regions of the inner ear. DP levels will be recorded for each frequency and ear. Higher DP levels indicate more sensitive hearing. Change from baseline values will be calculated as the reported DP level value minus the baseline value. A negative change from baseline indicates less sensitive hearing

    Time frame: Baseline (Day -5 to Day -1) and Cycle 1 Day 1 (21 or 28 day cycles) and End of Treatment Visit (28 days after last dose of study drug), up to 196 Days after first dose of study drug

  5. Changes from Baseline in Words-in-Noise (WIN) Values compared to End of Treatment [Changes in Hearing]

    The WIN test is a series of trials to measure the ability to accurately recognize speech in noise. In each trial, a series of 5 words is read to the listener with the instruction to repeat each word. The number of correct responses is captured. Trials are presented at 7 signal-to-noise ratios, from 0 to 24 dB, in steps of 4 dB. WIN thresholds are then calculated for each ear using the Spearman-Kaerber method. Higher WIN thresholds indicate better word recognition. Change from baseline values will be calculated for each ear as the reported WIN threshold value minus the baseline value. A negative change from baseline indicates worse word recognition

    Time frame: Baseline (Day -5 to Day -1) and Cycle 1 Day 1 (21 or 28 day cycles) and End of Treatment Visit (28 days after last dose of study drug), up to 196 Days after first dose of study drug

  6. Changes from Baseline in Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA) Total Score compared to End of Treatment [Changes in Hearing]

    The Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA) is a 25-item self-assessment scale comprised of two subscales (emotional and social/situational) measuring the impact of hearing loss. Items are scored on a range of 0 to 4. The HHIA Total Score is calculated as the sum of the 25 individual item scores. The HHIA Total Score can range from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate a greater degree of hearing impairment. Change from baseline values will be calculated as the reported HHIA value minus the baseline value. A positive change from baseline indicates more hearing impairment

    Time frame: Baseline (Day -5 to Day -1) and Cycle 1 Day 1 (21 or 28 day cycles) and End of Treatment Visit (28 days after last dose of study drug), up to 196 Days after first dose of study drug

  7. Plasma Concentrations of DB-020

    Time frame: Predose and 0.25 hours prior to cisplatin administration on Cycle 1 Day 1 (21 or 28 day cycles)

  8. Maximum observed plasma concentration (Cmax) of free (unbound) cisplatin

    Time frame: 0.25 hours predose, mid-point of IV infusion, end of infusion, 0.25, 0.5, 1 & 2 hours postdose on Day 1 of each cycle (21 or 28 day cycles)

  9. Area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC 0-inf) of free (unbound) cisplatin

    Time frame: 0.25 hours predose, mid-point of IV infusion, end of infusion, 0.25, 0.5, 1 & 2 hours postdose on Day 1 of each cycle (21 or 28 day cycles)

  10. Time to reach maximum observed plasma concentration (tmax) of free (unbound) cisplatin

    Time frame: 0.25 hours predose, mid-point of IV infusion, end of infusion, 0.25, 0.5, 1 & 2 hours postdose on Day 1 of each cycle (21 or 28 day cycles)

  11. Half-life (t1/2) of plasma concentrations of free (unbound) cisplatin

    Time frame: 0.25 hours predose, mid-point of IV infusion, end of infusion, 0.25, 0.5, 1 & 2 hours postdose on Day 1 of each cycle (21 or 28 day cycles)

07

Study locations

8 sites
  • University of Miami Health System
    Miami, Florida 33136, United States
  • University of Kansas Medical Center
    Kansas City, Kansas 66160, United States
  • Northwell Health Cancer Center
    Lake Success, New York 11042, United States
  • WVU Cancer Institute
    Morgantown, West Virginia 26506, United States
  • Queensland Head and Neck Cancer Centre
    Woolloongabba, Queensland 4102, Australia
  • Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
    Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
  • Oncology and Palliative Care Research
    Melbourne, Victoria 3065, Australia
  • Fiona Stanley Hospital, Clinical Trials Unit Cancer Center
    Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Feb 2020 to primary completion in Jul 2022, 29 months.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jan 29, 2020
First posted
Feb 10, 2020
StartActual
Feb 21, 2020
Primary completionActual
Jul 30, 2022
CompletionActual
May 23, 2023
Last update
Jul 6, 2023
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 6, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04262336
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 10, 2020
Start date
Feb 21, 2020
Primary completion
Jul 30, 2022
Completion
May 23, 2023
Last update
Jul 6, 2023

Study contacts

Pablo LaPuerta
study director · Decibel Therapeutics

Oversight

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

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Studies of the drug tested here: Sodium thiosulfate

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