ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT05083390Updated Feb 20, 2024

Norursodeoxycholic Acid vs. Placebo in NASH

A Phase 2 interventional study of norUrsodeoxycholic acid in Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis, sponsored by Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH. Recruiting at 1 site in Austria. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 74 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-02-20.

Sponsored by Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Jan 2025, 1 year 10 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Registered 2 years 2 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jul 2019, registered Oct 2021).
  • Started Jul 2019; still recruiting 7 years 4 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
363
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 74 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a double-blind, randomised, multi-centre, placebo-controlled, comparative, phase IIb trial. The trial will be conducted with three treatment groups in the form of a parallel group comparison and will serve to compare oral treatment with either 1500 mg/d or 1000 mg/d norUDCA tablets vs. placebo tablets for the treatment of NASH.

02

Conditions studied

  • Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis
03

In context

Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

1,617 studies on the registry are indexed under Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; 324 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 363 is above the median of 60 across 1,176 interventional studies indexed under Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

Browse Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH is the lead sponsor of 39 studies on the registry; 3 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 74 Years
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

  • Must be willing to participate in the study and provide written
  • Male or female patients ≥ 18 and \< 75 years
  • Centrally assessed histological evidence of NASH and liver fibrosis
  • Women of agree to use a highly effective method of during the entire duration of the trial and for 4 weeks following the last dose of trial treatment

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients taking prohibited medications
  • Presence of liver cirrhosis
  • Type 1 diabetes or uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes
  • History or presence of any other significant concomitant liver diseases
  • History of liver transplantation
  • >45 kg/m\^2
  • Any known relevant infectious disease (e.g., active tuberculosis, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [AIDS]-defining diseases)
  • Abnormal renal function ( estimated from cystatin C \< 30 ml/min) at screening visit
  • Any active malignant disease (except for basal cell carcinoma)
  • Existing or intended pregnancy or breast-feeding
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

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.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
363 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    norUrsodeoxycholic acid 1500 mg/day

    3 film-coated tablets once daily for 72 weeks containing in total norUrsodeoxycholic acid 1500 mg

    Drug: norUrsodeoxycholic acid

  • Experimental
    norUrsodeoxycholic acid 1000 mg/day

    3 film-coated tablets once daily for 72 weeks containing in total norUrsodeoxycholic acid 1000 mg

    Drug: norUrsodeoxycholic acid

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo to norUrsodeoxycholic acid

    3 film-coated tablets once daily for 72 weeks containing placebo to norUrsodeoxycholic acid

    Drug: norUrsodeoxycholic acid

Interventions

  • 500 mg norUrsodeoxycholic acid or placebo film-coated tablets; 3 tablets/day

    Also known as: norucholic acid, norUDCA, NCA

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of participants with resolution of NASH, assessed by centrally scored liver histology, and no worsening of fibrosis AND/OR improvement of fibrosis, and no worsening of NAS

    Time frame: 72 weeks

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — It is not yet decided which data will be made available. Neither a time frame can be indicated yet.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Jul 2019 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jan 2025, 66 months after the start.

Of 132 industry-sponsored phase 2 interventional studies under Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, half reached primary completion within 22 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 15 and three quarters within 30. This study's planned 66 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 185 studies reached it within 26 months; a quarter within 16 and three quarters within 36.

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

Registered
Oct 6, 2021
First posted
Oct 19, 2021
StartActual
Jul 8, 2019
Primary completionEst.
Jan 2025
CompletionEst.
Apr 2025
Last update
Feb 20, 2024
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 Feb 20, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05083390
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Oct 19, 2021
Start date
Jul 8, 2019
Primary completion
Jan 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Apr 2025 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 20, 2024

Study contacts

Michael Stiess, PhD
Contact
zentrale@drfalkpharma.de
++49-761-1514 ext. 0
Michael Trauner, MD
principal investigator · Medical University of Vienna, Department of Internal Medicine III

Oversight

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

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