A Phase 2 interventional study of Sodium Lactate and placebo in Traumatic Brain Injury, sponsored by University of California, Los Angeles. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-16.
Sponsored by University of California, Los Angeles · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
This is a safety phase 2 clinical trial of intravenous infusion of sodium lactate in patients with severe TBI. This study is intended for patients in the acute setting in an intensive care unit at centers that have been selected to participate in this trial. This is a proof of safety study and biomarker response study.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) consists of a primary localized insult to the brain followed by prolonged global disruption of brain metabolism, thus creating risk for secondary brain damage from energy deficiency. To date, there is no specific metabolic treatment to improve outcome after TBI. This study is designed to determine if providing a unique chemical fuel in the form sodium lactate will improve the brain's metabolism and prevent ongoing damage. The investigators will seek to find the highest dose of sodium lactate that is tolerated and then to determine if administering this dose for 24 hours improves brain metabolism and survival. We will collect blood and brain MRI images to test if the intervention helps brain metabolism and brain structure. The study will be a randomized trial so that we have a comparison group against which to best evaluate safety. Ten medical centers that are very experienced with traumatic brain injury will participate in the study and will be supervised by a data safety monitoring board. This is a pilot study that will ultimately inform the design of a large scale clinical trial of sodium lactate in the near future.
RATIONALE TBI has no definitive drug treatment, and multiple trials have failed. We propose a pilot safety study of a metabolic treatment for TBI using exogenous sodium lactate (ELI) infusion to enhance brain oxidative metabolism as a medical treatment for TBI.
STUDY DESIGN This is a multicenter phase 2 study. The phase 2a study will identify the maximum tolerated dose of ELI using the continual reassessment dose escalation design with three dose tiers and will be followed by a phase 2b, randomized, placebo-controlled comparison of the ELI at maximum tolerated dose (MTD) for 24 hours vs normal saline infusion. The time to enrollment and start of study infusion will be 24 hours after onset of TBI.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE The primary objective of part 1, the dose finding study is to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) associated with a prespecified probability of dose limiting toxicity (DLT). The DLT is defined as the occurrence within 7 days of ELI of any one of three adverse events: AKI, arrythmia (atrial or ventricular tachycardia that causes hypotension), or ARDS (mild or greater).
The primary objective of the part 2 of the study, the randomized trial of MTD ELI for 24 hours vs saline is 30 day mortality.
NUMBER OF SUBJECTS 264
SUBJECT SELECTION
CRITERIA Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
6. AST or ALT > 1.5x upper limit of normal; Severe liver trauma; 7. baseline serum lactate > 2 mM; 8. Hypotension SBP \< 90 refractory to vasopressors; 9. Known mitochondrial genetic disorder; 10. Pregnancy; 11.Presence of a condition or abnormality that in the opinion of the Investigator would compromise the safety of the patient or the quality of the data; 12.Member of a protected population; simultaneous participation in another randomized trial
Time Window Enrollment and study infusion starts within 24 hours of TBI
TEST PRODUCT, DOSE, AND ROUTE OF ADMINISTRATION Sodium Lactate Injection, USP diluted to 200 mg/mL Sodium Lactate.
Lactate will be administered continuously for up to 6 hours by IV (in part 1) and for 24 hours (in part 2) and titrated to achieve targeted blood lactate concentrations for the assigned dose tier. New IND is pending. Investigational Product to be made by Altasciences.
CONTROL PRODUCT, DOSE AND ROUTE OF ADMINISTRATION 0.9% Normal Saline will serve as placebo in part 2 of the study Saline infusion will be administered continuously for up to 24 hours in 24 hours in part 2 of the study
1,721 studies on the registry are indexed under Brain Injuries, Traumatic; 447 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 264 is above the median of 52 across 1,088 interventional studies indexed under Brain Injuries, Traumatic.
Browse Brain Injuries, Traumatic studies →University of California, Los Angeles is the lead sponsor of 1,170 studies on the registry; 195 are open to participants now.
Of its 95 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 70 (74%) have results posted.
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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.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
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.
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Relapsed and refractory
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
sodium lactate
Drug: Sodium Lactate
sodium cbloride infusion
Drug: placebo
sodium lactate
infusion of sodium chloride
Also known as: sodium chloride
mortality
Mortality
Time frame: 30 days
Dose limiting toxicity
panel of serious adverse events
Time frame: 7 days
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Jan 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Studies of the drug tested here: Sodium Lactate
University of California, Los Angeles →