ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06085079Updated Oct 16, 2023

Ixekizumab for the Management of Refractory Non-Infectious Uveitis: A Proof-of-Concept Study

A Phase 4 interventional study of Ixekizumab Prefilled Syringe in Uveitis, Posterior, Uveitis, Anterior and Uveitis, Intermediate, sponsored by Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-10-16.

Sponsored by Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2024, 1 year 10 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Registered 10 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jun 2022, registered Apr 2023).
  • Started Jun 2022; still recruiting 4 years 5 months later.
Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The objective of this study is to explore the efficacy of ixekizumab in treating patients with a diagnosis of non-infectious intermediate, posterior, panuveitis, or chronic steroid-dependent anterior uveitis who had failed treatment with a classic synthetic DMARD including methotrexate, mycophenolate, cyclosporin, azathioprine, cyclophosphamide and/or at least one anti-TNF agent including adalimumab, infliximab, etanercept, golimumab or certolizumab.

Read the detailed description

This is a 24-week open label analysis of subcutaneous ixekizumab (taltz) in patients with non-infectious intermediate, posterior, panuveitis, and chronic steroid-dependent anterior uveitis. The study visits are held at Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution (MERSI) in Waltham, Massachusetts. The study is aiming to enroll 20 subjects. This is a two-armed study in which Group A receives ixekizumab every 2 weeks and Group B receives ixekizumab every 4 weeks.

02

Conditions studied

  • Uveitis, Posterior
  • Uveitis, Anterior
  • Uveitis, Intermediate
  • Panuveitis
03

In context

Uveitis, Posterior

61 studies on the registry are indexed under Uveitis, Posterior; 4 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 37 across 45 interventional studies indexed under Uveitis, Posterior.

Browse Uveitis, Posterior studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution as lead sponsor.

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

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. At least 18 years of age
  2. Diagnosis of non-infectious intermediate, posterior, panuveitis, or chronic dependent anterior uveitis
  3. Failure of at least one classic synthetic DMARD including Methotrexate, Mycophenolate, Cyclosporin, Azathioprine, Cyclophosphamide, and/or at least one anti-TNF agent including Adalimumab, Infliximab, Etanercept, Golimumab or Certolizumab
  4. Active disease at screening visit
  5. At least 1 of the following parameters in at least one eye:

    • active inflammatory chorioretinal and/or inflammatory retinal vascular lesions
    • ≥ 1+ vitreous haze (Nussenblatt criteria)
    • ≥ 2+ anterior chamber cells (National Eye Institute/Standardization of Uveitis Nomenclature criteria)
    • Cystoid macular edema, seen on optical coherence tomography and/or fluorescein angiography
    • FA leakage pattern deemed by investigators to be suggestive of active intermediate, posterior, and panuveitis, including optic disc, retinal vascular, and macular leakages
    • Active snowbanking

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • The presence of only acute anterior uveitis.
  • Serpiginous choroidopathy
  • Subject with prior inadequate response to high-dose oral (> 60 mg of prednisone)
  • Subject with confirmed or suspected infectious uveitis
  • Patients with intraocular pressure of ≥ 25 mmHg or evidence of optic nerve injury
  • Corneal or lens opacity that precludes adequate ophthalmic evaluation.
  • Patients likely to undergo cataract surgery during the duration of the trial.
  • Patients with Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) less than 20 letters (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study)
  • Dose of concomitant therapy at the baseline visit:

    • Methotrexate (MTX) ˃ 25 mg per week
    • Cyclosporine ˃ 4 mg/kg per day
    • Mycophenolate mofetil ˃ 3 grams per day or an equivalent drug to mycophenolate mofetil (e.g. mycophenolic acid) at an equivalent dose approved by the medical monitor.
    • Azathioprine ˃ 175 mg per day
    • Tacrolimus (oral formulation) > 8 mg per day
  • If entering the study on 1 concomitant immunosuppressive therapy, dose has been increased within the last 28 days prior to Baseline visit.
  • Subject has received Retisert® (implant) within 3 years prior to the Baseline visit or that has had complications related to the device. Subject has had Retisert® (implant) removed within 90 days prior to the Baseline visit or has had complications related to the removal of the device
  • Subject has received intraocular or periocular corticosteroids within 30 days prior to Baseline visit
  • Subject with proliferative or severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy or macular edema due to diabetic retinopathy
  • Subject with neovascular/wet age-related macular degeneration
  • Subject with abnormality of vitreo-retinal interface (i.e., vitreomacular traction, epiretinal membranes, etc.) with the potential for macular structural damage independent of the inflammatory process, deemed macular pathology is deemed by a retinal specialist to be a potential cofounder of patient's visual acuity reduction
  • Subject with severe vitreous haze that precludes visualization of the fundus at the baseline visit
  • Subject has received Ozurdex® (dexamethasone implant) within 6 months prior to the baseline visit
  • Subject has received intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy within 45 days of the Baseline visit for Lucentis® (ranibizumab) or Avastin® (bevacizumab) or within 60 days of the Baseline visit for anti-VEGF Trap (aflibercept)
  • Subject has received intravitreal methotrexate within 90 days prior to the Baseline visit
  • Subject on systemic carbonic anhydrase inhibitor within 1 week prior to Screening visit
  • Subject with macular edema as the only sign of uveitis
  • Subject with a history of scleritis
  • Subject with intolerance to high-dose oral corticosteroids (equivalent of oral prednisone 1 mg/kg/day or 60 to 80 mg/day)
  • Subject on cyclophosphamide within 30 days prior to the Baseline visit
  • Participation in other drug or device clinical trials within 30 days prior to Day 0 or planning to participate in other investigational drug or device clinical trials within 180 days following 48 weeks after day 0. This includes both ocular and non-ocular clinical trials
  • Major surgery within 8 weeks prior to screening or planned major surgery within 6 months following randomization
  • Treatment with intravenous gamma globulin or plasmapheresis during the course of the trial
  • Immunization with a live/attenuated vaccine within 4 weeks prior to baseline
  • History of severe allergic or anaphylactic reactions to human, humanized monoclonal antibodies
  • Prior history of Crohn's Colitis or Ulcerative Colitis
  • Evidence of serious uncontrolled concomitant cardiovascular, nervous system, pulmonary (including obstructive pulmonary disease), renal, hepatic, endocrine (include uncontrolled diabetes mellitus) or gastrointestinal disease (including complicated diverticulitis, liver disease or peptic ulcer disease)
  • Known active current or history of recurrent bacterial, viral, fungal, mycobacterial or other infections (including but not limited to tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterial disease, and C, and herpes zoster, but excluding fungal infections of nail beds)
  • Any major episode of infection requiring hospitalization or treatment with IV antibiotics within 4 weeks of screening or oral antibiotics within 2 weeks prior to screening
  • Active tuberculosis (TB) requiring treatment within the previous 3 years. Patients should be screened for latent TB and, if positive, treated following local practice guidelines prior to initiating trial. Patients treated for tuberculosis with no recurrence in 3 years are permitted
  • Primary or secondary immunodeficiency (history of or currently active)
  • Evidence of active malignant disease, diagnosed within the previous 5 years (including hematological malignancies and solid tumors, except basal and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin or carcinoma in situ of the cervix uteri that has been excised and cured)
  • Pregnant women or breast-feeding mothers
  • Patients with not willing to use an effective method of
  • History of alcohol, drug, or chemical abuse within 1 year prior to screening.
  • Serum creatinine > 1.6 mg/dL (141 μmol/L) in female patients and > 1.9 mg/dL (168 μmol/L) in male patients. Patients with serum creatinine values exceeding limits may be eligible for the study if their estimated (GFR) are >30.
  • (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) > 1.5 times (ULN)
  • Total > 1.5 ULN
  • count \< 100 x 109/L (100,000/mm3)
  • \< 85 g/L (8.5 g/dL; 5.3 mmol/L)
  • White Blood Cells \< 3.0 x 109/L (3000/mm3)
  • \< 2.0 x 109/L (2000/mm3)
  • Absolute Lymphocyte Count \< 0.5 x 109/L (500/mm3)
  • Positive Hepatitis BsAg, or antibody
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(16)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Reproductive potential

Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.

Criteria about it usually ask 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.

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.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    2-week dosing

    Subjects will self-administer subcutaneous injection of ixekizumab during the baseline week (Week 0) using a loading dose of 160 mg of subcutaneous ixekizumab (Taltz), followed by 80 mg of subcutaneous ixekizumab Q2 weeks for 24-weeks.

    Drug: Ixekizumab Prefilled Syringe

  • Experimental
    4-week dosing

    Subjects will self-administer subcutaneous injection of ixekizumab during the baseline week (Week 0) using a loading dose of 160 mg of subcutaneous ixekizumab (Taltz), followed by 80 mg of subcutaneous ixekizumab Q4 weeks for 24-weeks.

    Drug: Ixekizumab Prefilled Syringe

Interventions

  • DrugIxekizumab Prefilled Syringe

    Ixekizumab is a humanized IgG4 monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity and specificity to IL-17A. This medication is currently approved for the treatment of plaque Ps, ankylosing spondylitis, and psoriatic arthritis.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Clinical response

    The four components of the composite endpoint will each be graded dichotomously (i.e., yes, or no for success), and include visual acuity, control of inflammation, tapering of medication therapy, and reduction of cystoid macular edema. Clinical response will be defined by improvement in at least one parameter with worsening in none, and well controlled intraocular inflammation.

    Time frame: Assessed around week 10

Secondary outcomes

  1. Intraocular pressure

    Intraocular pressure is a number between 0 and 100 mmHg, with most values ranging from 5-30 and normal of 10-21.

    Time frame: This will be measured and assessed throughout the entire 24-week study period up until the patient's final visit.

  2. Subjective Visual Benefit

    The National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire - 25 (VFQ-25) will measure the patient's assessment of his or her vision and problems and how these problems impact their quality of life. Responses are quantified numerically for each section. These responses have specific ranges: 1 to 6 for "General Health and Vision" (section 1, with lower number response signifying better health outcomes); 1 to 6 for "Difficulties with Activities" (section 2, with lower number response signifying less difficulty with activities); 1-5 for "Responses to Vision Problems" (section 3, with lower number response signifying more negative responses to vision problems).

    Time frame: This will be measured and assessed throughout the entire 24-week study period up until the patient's final visit.

  3. Adverse Event frequency

    The following safety endpoints will be measured: allergic reactions, hypersensitivity, malignancies, infections (upper respiratory tract, urinary tract, sinusitis, tonsillitis, bronchitis, cystitis), serious infections, candidiasis, MACE, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, injection site reactions (mild, moderate, severe), diarrhea, depression, muscle spasm, hypertension, osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, fatigue, headache, back pain, LFT elevation, lipid elevation, cerebro-cardiovascular events, depression/suicide, death. The development or worsening of any medical problems will be documented through adverse event monitoring at each study visit. The frequency of each adverse event across all subjects will be calculated.

    Time frame: This will be monitored and assessed throughout the entirety of the 24-week study period and through 30 days following the last administration of study treatment.

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution
    Waltham, Massachusetts 02451, United States
    Recruiting
    • Tate Valerio, BA · Contacttvalerio@mersi.com · 781-647-1431
    • Yasmin Massoudi, BS · Contactymassoudi@mersi.com · 7816471431
    • C. Stephen Foster · Principal investigator
    • Stephen D Anesi · Sub investigator
    • Peter Y Chang · Sub investigator
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 16, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06085079
Lead sponsor
Massachusetts Eye Research and Surgery Institution
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Oct 16, 2023
Start date
Jun 1, 2022
Primary completion
Dec 30, 2024 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 30, 2024 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 16, 2023

Study contacts

Tate Valerio, BA
Contact
tvalerio@mersi.com
781-891-6377 ext. 401
Yasmin Massoudi, BA
Contact
ymassoudi@mersi.com
781-891-6377 ext. 402
C. Stephen Foster, MD, FACS, FACR
principal investigator · Founder of research site

Oversight

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

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