ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT06161415LIONUpdated Nov 2, 2026

Safety, Tolerability, and Distribution of Laquinimod Eye Drops : The LION Study

A Phase 1 interventional study of Laquinimod eye drops in Inflammation and Uveitis, sponsored by Quan Dong Nguyen. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-02.

Primary conditionUveitisRegistry: InflammationReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Inflammation — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Uveitis
Why
  1. Inflammation is a broad heading, used only when no more specific condition is named.
  2. The study's listed conditions name Uveitis.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Quan Dong Nguyen · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was Jul 2025, 1 year 3 months ago, and no results have been posted to the registry.
Updated Nov 2, 2026Now CompletedStudy completion moved+4 moreGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
10
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The LION Study is a prospective, single-center phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the safety, and distribution of Laquinimod administered as topical eye drops for two weeks in human participants.

Read the detailed description

Participants who fulfill the study eligibility criteria and who are planned to undergo a pars plana vitrectomy will be enrolled in the study. Eligible participants scheduled for a diagnostic vitrectomy may also be enrolled.

Open label dose escalation:

Up to three subsequent dose-escalation groups will receive Laquinimod eye drops for 2 weeks and samples will be assayed for Laquinimod concentration in aqueous humor, vitreous and plasma.

02

Conditions studied

  • Inflammation
  • Uveitis

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Uveitis
  • Inflammation
  • Laquinimod eye drops
  • Topical
  • Immunomodulation
03

In context

Uveitis Reclassified

299 studies on the registry are indexed under Uveitis; 32 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 10 is below the median of 30 across 175 interventional studies indexed under Uveitis.

Browse Uveitis studies →

Lead sponsor

Quan Dong Nguyen is the lead sponsor of 4 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

Compared within Uveitis, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Inflammation. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

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

  1. Age 18 years or older
  2. Participants who are capable and willing to provide and follow study instructions.
  3. Participants who are scheduled to undergo pars plana vitrectomy (PPV).
  4. Participants with intraocular pressure (IOP) ≥ 5 mmHg and ≤22 mmHg in study eye
  5. Women who are not pregnant or lactating, are or have undergone a sterilization procedure.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Participants with active periocular or ocular infectious disease (e.g., blepharitis, scleritis, or conjunctivitis, keratitis or endophthalmitis).
  2. Participants with active infectious uveitis
  3. Participants with a history of prior intraocular or extraocular surgery within 90 days of study enrollment
  4. Participant with a history of intravitreal administered to the study eye within 90 days of enrollment.
  5. Participants with a history of intravitreal injection of VEGF inhibitors within 30 days of enrollment
  6. Use of any topical cyclosporine or corticosteroid or other specified (i.e. calcineurin inhibitors) ophthalmic medication in the study eye for any reason within 14 days of enrollment and before the surgery
  7. Use of medication consisting of a strong or moderate inhibitor of within 2 weeks of Baseline visit (and during the study).
  8. Use of medication consisting of a strong inducer of CYP3A4 within 2 weeks of Baseline visit (and during the study)
  9. Mild, moderate, or severe hepatic impairment (any of Score A, B, and C)
  10. Moderate or severe renal impairment ( ≤60 mL/min)
  11. History of disease or other immunodeficiency disorder
  12. History of acute hepatitis A (IgM positive), , or
  13. History of organ or bone marrow transplant
  14. Presence of under active treatment
  15. Any other acute or chronic medical condition that would, in the judgment of the study investigators, reasonably preclude participation in the clinical study
  16. Already enrolled in a clinical trial.
  17. Any condition that would prevent the investigator from acquiring images of the eye as required per protocol
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(10)

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.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

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.

CYP3A (CYP3A4) inhibitors and inducers

CYP3A is a group of enzymes, mainly CYP3A4, in the liver and gut that break down many medicines. Some medicines, supplements and foods (grapefruit, St John’s wort) slow them down or speed them up, which changes how much of a study drug stays in the body.

Studies list them so they can be avoided or switched; bring a list of everything you take, including supplements.

Child-Pugh class

A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
10 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Group 1

    (3 to 6 participants): Participants will receive a dose of Laquinimod as 2 drops once a day (0.6mg per day) in the study eye for 14 days before the surgery.

    Drug: Laquinimod eye drops

  • Experimental
    Group 2

    (3 to 6 participants): Participants will receive a dose of Laquinimod as 2 drops twice a day (1.2mg per day) in the study eye for 14 days before the surgery

    Drug: Laquinimod eye drops

  • Experimental
    Group 3

    (3 to 6 participants): Participants will receive a dose of Laquinimod as 2 drops three times a day(1.8 mg per day) for 14 days before the surgery.

    Drug: Laquinimod eye drops

Interventions

  • n Laquinimod eye drops 10 mg/ml Dose: Dosing frequency will depend on the groups assigned

    Also known as: LAQ eye drops

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Concentration of Laquinimod in aqueous humor and vitreous samples of human participants

    Assessment of concentration of Laquinimod in aqueous humor and vitreous samples of human by biolanalysis in specialized lab participants on Day 14 of Laquinimod eye-drop administration.

    Time frame: After 2 weeks of study drug administration

  2. Concentration of Laquinimod in plasma of human participants

    Assessment of concentration of Laquinimod in plasma of human participants on Day 14 of Laquinimod in specialized lab eye-drop administration. participants on Day 14 of Laquinimod eye-drop administration.

    Time frame: After 2 weeks of study drug administration

Secondary outcomes

  1. Safety Assessment

    Any Adverse events: ocular and non-ocular at Post operative Day 1 and Post operative Day 8 compared to baseline.

    Time frame: Baseline to end of Study at 22-30days

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University
    Palo Alto, California 94303, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • El Feky D, Akhavanrezayat A, Mobasserian A, Khan H, Elaraby O, Yavari N, Halim MS, Tram Tran AN, Khatri A, Kirimli GU, Tuong Than NT, Vahtola E, Torngren M, Hung JH, Moussa M, DeBoer C, Mruthyunjaya P, Smith S, Or C, Kabeel M, Serag Y, Do DV, Urtti A, Nguyen QD. Safety and Biodistribution of Topical Laquinimod, an Immunomodulator Targeting Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor: The LION Study. Ophthalmol Sci. 2026 Apr 3;6(6):101186. doi: 10.1016/j.xops.2026.101186. eCollection 2026 Jun. PubMed 42211725 ↗
09

Timeline

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedDate before it movedWhere the date was before it moved

Ran from May 2024 to primary completion in Jul 2025, 14 months.

Completion moved once since we started tracking on Sep 25, 2026: Jul 2025 → Sep 2025, on Nov 2, 2026.

Earlier changes are on the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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

Registered
Nov 29, 2023
First posted
Dec 7, 2023
StartActual
May 3, 2024
Primary completionActual
Jul 31, 2025
CompletionActual
Sep 30, 2025was Jul 2025
Last update
Nov 2, 2026
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.
Status
Recruiting→Completed
changed Nov 2, 2026
Sites
1 site added, 1 site removed
Show site
  • Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University · Palo Alto, United States
Show 1 removed
  • Spencer Center for Vision Research at the Byers Eye Institute · Palo Alto, United States
Nov 2, 2026
Study completion
Jul 2025→Sep 30, 2025 (actual)
Nov 2, 2026
Enrollment
12 (estimated)→10 (actual)
Nov 2, 2026
Interventions
Arms removed: Stage 2 Comparison Group A·Stage 2 Comparison Group B
Nov 2, 2026
Publications
1 publication citing this study linked from PubMed, e.g. PubMed 42211725 ↗
Nov 2, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Nov 2, 2026
    Recruiting→Completed
    Publications 1 publication citing this study linked from PubMed, e.g. PubMed 42211725 ↗
    1 site added, 1 site removed
    Show site
    • Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University · Palo Alto, United States
    Show 1 removed
    • Spencer Center for Vision Research at the Byers Eye Institute · Palo Alto, United States
    Study completion Jul 2025→Sep 30, 2025 (now actual)
    Enrollment 12 (estimated)→10 (actual)
    Interventions Arms removed: Stage 2 Comparison Group A·Stage 2 Comparison Group B
    + 5 other changes: index terms, verification date, oversight details, description and design details

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06161415
Lead sponsor
Quan Dong Nguyen
Collaborators
Global Ophthalmic Research Center (GORC)
Responsible party
Quan Dong Nguyen (Professor of Ophthalmology, Stanford University) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Dec 7, 2023
Start date
May 3, 2024
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2025
Completion
Sep 30, 2025
Last update
Nov 2, 2026

Oversight

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

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This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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Studies of the drug tested here: Laquinimod

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