ClinicalTrials.gg
Active, not recruitingNCT04677465RheSolveUpdated Jun 27, 2023

Clinical Study of the RheOx Bronchial Rheoplasty System in Treating the Symptoms of Chronic Bronchitis

An interventional study of RheOx Bronchial Rheoplasty and Sham Procedure in Chronic Bronchitis, sponsored by Gala Therapeutics, Inc.. Active, not recruiting at 37 sites in 5 countries. Open to participants aged 35 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-06-27.

Sponsored by Gala Therapeutics, Inc. · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by May 2024, 2 years 6 months ago, but the record still lists the study as active, not recruiting.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
270
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
35 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a prospective, randomized, parallel group, double-blind, sham-controlled, multicenter clinical trial following patients to 2 years. The objective is to assess the safety and effectiveness of Bronchial Rheoplasty for the treatment of the symptoms of chronic bronchitis in adult COPD patients with moderate to severe chronic bronchitis. A total of 270 patients will be randomized at up to 40 study centers in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

02

Conditions studied

  • Chronic Bronchitis

Keywords

  • COPD
03

In context

Bronchitis, Chronic

209 studies on the registry are indexed under Bronchitis, Chronic; 14 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 270 is above the median of 101 across 154 interventional studies indexed under Bronchitis, Chronic.

Browse Bronchitis, Chronic studies →

Lead sponsor

Gala Therapeutics, Inc. is the lead sponsor of 5 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
35 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

  1. Patient is at least 35 years of age.
  2. Patient has chronic bronchitis, defined as productive cough for three months in each of two successive years, whereas other causes of productive cough have been ruled out.
  3. Patient has a CAT score ≥ 10.
  4. Patient has an SGRQ score ≥ 25.
  5. Patient's responses to the first two questions of the CAT instrument sum to ≥ 7 points or the sum is 6 points and the patient's total CAT score is > 20 points.
  6. Patient has /FVC \< 0.70.
  7. Patient has a pre-procedure post-bronchodilator FEV1 percent predicted of ≥ 30%.
  8. Patient is receiving guideline directed pharmacotherapy which includes one or more long acting bronchodilator (LAMA, LABA) with or without an inhaled for at least 8 weeks prior to randomization, unless the patient has attempted such therapy within the past 1 year without significant clinical response or had an adverse reaction.
  9. Patient has a cigarette smoking history of at least ten pack years.
  10. In the opinion of the Primary investigator, patient is able to undergo 2 bronchoscopies under general anesthesia and is able to adhere to the study follow-up schedule

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patient has known unresolved lower respiratory tract infection (e.g., pneumonia, mycobacterium avium-intracellulare infection (MAI), fungus, tuberculosis).
  2. Patient has a -dependent condition requiring >10 mg of oral corticosteroid per day.
  3. Patient has any implantable electronic device (e.g., pacemaker, cardioverter defibrillator) that cannot be turned off during the procedure.
  4. Patient has a history of ventricular tachy-arrhythmia or atrial tachyarrhythmia within the past two years, unless the arrhythmia has been treated and/or patient is in regular rhythm during the screening phase.
  5. Patient has unresolved lung cancer.
  6. Patient has a pulmonary nodule or cavity that in the judgement of the Primary investigator may require intervention during the course of the study.
  7. Patient had prior lung surgery, such as lung transplant, LVRS, lobectomy, lung implant/prosthesis, metal airway stent, valves, coils or bullectomy. Prior pneumothorax without lung resection, pleural procedures without surgery, or segmentectomy are acceptable.
  8. Patient has emphysema of greater than or equal to 25% as quantified on baseline HRCT scan (low attenuation area less than -950HU) as determined by the CT Core Lab.
  9. Patient has asthma based on Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) criteria.
  10. Patient has clinically significant bronchiectasis influencing the patient's clinical symptoms of cough and phlegm.
  11. Patient has actively smoked (including tobacco, marijuana, e-cigarettes, vaping, etc.) within the last 6 months.
  12. Patient is unable to walk over 225 meters in 6 minutes.
  13. Patient has a serious medical condition that, in the Primary investigator's opinion, could compromise patient safety or confound the interpretation of the patient's response to therapy (e.g., congestive heart failure, cardiomyopathy, or myocardial infarction in the past year, renal failure, liver disease cerebrovascular accident within the past 6 months, uncontrolled diabetes ( >8%), uncontrolled hypertension (diastolic BP >100mmHg) or disease requiring treatment with medications or a disease requiring chemotherapy).
  14. Patient has uncontrolled GERD.
  15. Patient has known severe pulmonary hypertension.
  16. Patient has a known sensitivity to medication required to perform bronchoscopy (i.e., lidocaine, atropine, benzodiazepines).
  17. Patient is pregnant, nursing, or planning to get pregnant during study duration.
  18. Patient is currently participating in another clinical study involving an product
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(7)

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.

FEV1

From a breathing test (spirometry): how much air you can blow out in the first second. Often given as a percentage of what is expected for your age, height and sex.

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.

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.

HbA1c

A blood test of average blood sugar over the past two to three months, given as a percentage or in mmol/mol. 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) or more is the usual threshold for diabetes, normally confirmed by a second test.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
270 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    RheOx Treatment

    Device: RheOx Bronchial Rheoplasty

  • Sham comparator
    Sham Procedure

    Device: Sham Procedure

Interventions

  • DeviceRheOx Bronchial Rheoplasty

    bronchial rheoplasty is a staged procedure wherein pulsed electric fields are delivered to the right lung in the first treatment visit, and then the left lung is treated approximately 1 month later.

  • DeviceSham Procedure

    staged sham procedure wherein bronchoscopy is performed, the catheter is inserted into the right lung, but energy is not delivered; then the same steps are performed in the left lung approximately 1 month later (no energy is delivered to the patient)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. COPD Assessment Test (CAT) Score

    Mean change from baseline in the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) total score, the total CAT score ranges from 0 to 40, where lower scores represent lower symptom burden

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Distal Airway Volume

    Change from baseline distal airway volume (DAV) at expiration using HRCT scans

    Time frame: 6 months

  2. COPD Exacerbations

    Rate of moderate and severe COPD exacerbations

    Time frame: 12 months

  3. Goblet Cell Hyperplasia

    change from baseline in mean goblet cell hyperplasia score as determined from airway biopsy samples; the grading scale ranges from 0 to 3, where lower scores represent less goblet cell hyperplasia

    Time frame: 1 month

  4. Cough Frequency

    change from baseline in cough frequency (coughs/hour in a 24-hour recording period)

    Time frame: 6 and 12 months

07

Study locations

37 sites
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 27, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04677465
Lead sponsor
Gala Therapeutics, Inc.
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Dec 21, 2020
Start date
Apr 7, 2021
Primary completion
May 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Oct 2025 (estimated)
Last update
Jun 27, 2023

Study contacts

Frank Sciurba, MD
principal investigator · UPMC; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Arschang Valipour, MD
principal investigator · Karl-Landsteiner-Institute for Lung Research and Pulmonary Oncology; Vienna, Austria

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Nov 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion