ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT06770309ADUpdated Jan 13, 2025

A Study of Silkworm Pupa Powder Intervention in the Nutritional Status of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease.

An interventional study of Silkworm pupa powder and Placebo in Alzheimer Disease (AD), Sarcopenia and Asthenia, sponsored by Yanbu Ke. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 50 Years to 90 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-01-13.

Sponsored by Yanbu Ke · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Dec 2025, 10 months ago, but the record still lists the study as not yet recruiting.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
100
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
50 Years to 90 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if silkworm pupa powder works to improve the nutritional status of Alzheimer's disease patients. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Does silkworm pupa powder evaluate the effectiveness of silkworm pupae in improving sarcopenia, frailty and quality of life in AD patients?
  • Does silkworm pupa powder improve cognitive function in AD patients?

Researchers will compare silkworm pupa powder to a placebo (a look-alike substance that contains no drug) to see if silkworm pupa powder works to improve the nutritional status of Alzheimer's disease patients.

Participants will:

  • Take drug silkworm pupa powder or a placebo every day for 3 months.
  • Visit the clinic once every 4 weeks for checkups and tests.
  • Keep a diary of their daily consumption.
02

Conditions studied

  • Alzheimer Disease (AD)
  • Sarcopenia
  • Asthenia

Keywords

  • Alzheimer Disease
  • Sarcopenia
  • asthenia
  • nutritional status
03

In context

Alzheimer Disease

3,965 studies on the registry are indexed under Alzheimer Disease; 926 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 100 is above the median of 70 across 3,019 interventional studies indexed under Alzheimer Disease.

Browse Alzheimer Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Yanbu Ke as lead sponsor.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
50 Years to 90 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

  1. Meet the diagnostic criteria for dementia caused by AD as determined by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Disease Association (NIA-AA) (2024);
  2. Male or menopausal female (no fertility requirement), participants are 50-90 years old (inclusive) with primary school education or above;
  3. The (MMSE) score for illiteracy is ≤ 17 points, primary school education is ≤ 20 points, secondary school education is ≤ 22 points, and university education is ≤ 23 points; CDR>2.0 points;;
  4. 0 points\< 40 points ≤ the ADL Rating Scale;
  5. At the time of screening and enrollment, there was a nutritional risk score of ≥3 points (according to the NRS2002 Nutritional Risk Screening Form);
  6. In good general condition, score ≤ 3 points;
  7. If you are receiving approved Alzheimer's disease treatment, such as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, GV-971, NMDA receptor antagonists, you must maintain a stable dose for at least 12 weeks before baseline, and the cognitive evaluation scale is stable. Participants who have not been treated for Alzheimer's disease may be enrolled. Unless otherwise noted, participants must maintain a stable dose of all other (i.e., non-Alzheimer's disease-related) permitted concomitant medications for at least 4 weeks prior to baseline;
  8. The investigator confirms that the subject has a stable and reliable caregiver;
  9. You voluntarily participate in this clinical research, fully understand and be informed about the study, and sign the form (ICF).; Willing to follow and able to complete all trial procedures. If the participant lacks the capacity to consent in the opinion of the investigator, the participant's consent shall be obtained as required by local laws, regulations, and customs. (or signed by the patient's caregiver with the authorization of the patient's guardian) during the study to agree to provide peripheral blood, feces, urine, samples for biomarker analysis.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Dementia caused by the following reasons: vascular dementia, central nervous system infection (such as AIDS, syphilis, etc.), Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, traumatic brain dementia, other physical and chemical factors (such as drug poisoning, alcohol poisoning, carbon monoxide poisoning, etc.), important physical diseases ( Such as hepatic encephalopathy, pulmonary encephalopathy, hypoxic encephalopathy, etc.), intracranial mass lesions (such as subdural hematoma, brain tumors), endocrine system lesions (such as thyroid disease, adrenal gland disease) as well as dementia caused by vitamins or any other cause;
  2. Patients with other diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, polymyositis, myasthenia gravis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, vitiligo, etc.;
  3. Severe renal insufficiency: rate \< 30mL/min (Cockcroft-Gault formula).or other known severe renal insufficiency disease; Severe hepatic impairment: or AST > 10 times the , or other known liver diseases such as acute and chronic active hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, etc.; During the screening period, patients with acute myocardial infarction or interventional therapy in the past 6 months, and heart failure (patients classified as grade III-IV according to ); Patients with other serious primary diseases of the nervous system, heart, pulmonary, hematopoietic system or endocrine system and psychiatric disorders;
  4. Those who suspect or have a history of alcohol or drug abuse;
  5. Estimated survival ≤ 3 months;
  6. Pregnant women or lactating women, subjects of childbearing age (including male subjects with heterosexual intercourse and their female partners of ) who have pregnancy plans or are unwilling to take effective measures from the beginning of screening to 3 months after discontinuation;
  7. Those who are allergic to the ingredients of known test supplies
  8. Participated in other drug clinical trials within 30 days before screening, or are participating in other clinical trials;
  9. Patients with other serious physical or psychiatric diseases or laboratory abnormalities that may increase the risk of participating in the study and who are considered by the investigator to be unsuitable for participating in this study
  10. Clinically severe mental disorder or psychiatric symptoms;
  11. Mini-Mental State Assessment Scale () score > 26 points;
  12. Activity of daily living ability (ADL) rating scale > 40 points
  13. Patients with abnormally elevated tumor markers or a history of tumor or no clear tumor;
  14. Those who are at serious risk of suicide;
  15. Patients who are intolerant or allergic to the drugs used in this study;
  16. cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease requiring treatment within 1 6 months or current diagnosis within 2 months;
  17. Use of antibiotics: a. Use of antibiotics for more than 10 consecutive days in the 12 weeks prior to baseline; b. Subjects are expected to be treated with antibiotics for more than 10 days; Any other medical condition (e.g., cardiac, respiratory, renal disease, gastrointestinal disease that may affect absorption, such as gastric cancer, gastric bypass, or recurrent diarrhea) that is not stable and adequately controlled, or that, in the opinion of the investigator, may affect the safety of the participant or interfere with study assessments;
  18. Any other clinically significant abnormality in physical examination, vital signs, laboratory tests, or that, in the opinion of the investigator, requires further investigation or treatment, or may interfere with study procedures or safety;
  19. Participants with bleeding disorders that are not adequately controlled (including count\< 50*10\^9/L or [INR]>1.5 for participants who did not receive anticoagulation therapy, e.g., warfarin);
  20. Other circumstances that the researcher deems inappropriate to participate in this study.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(14)

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.

MMSE and MoCA

Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

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.

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.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

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.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

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.

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.

ECG (electrocardiogram)

A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Care provider)
Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Experimental group

    Silkworm pupa powder, 2 times a day, two packets (12\*2 g) each time, take with warm water, before meals, for three months

    Dietary Supplement: Silkworm pupa powder

  • Placebo comparator
    Control group

    Placebo, 2 sachets (12\*2 g) twice a day, with warm water, before meals, for three months

    Dietary Supplement: Placebo

Interventions

  • Dietary supplementSilkworm pupa powder

    Silkworm pupa powder, 2 times a day, two packets (12\*2 g) each time, take with warm water, before meals, for three months

  • Dietary supplementPlacebo

    Placebo, 2 sachets (12\*2 g) twice a day, with warm water, before meals, for three months

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Hemoglobin

    Take blood testing and detect hemoglobin levels

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm

  2. Albumin

    Detect blood albumin levels

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm pupa powder.

  3. Serum prealbumin

    Detect serum prealbumin levels

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm pupa powder.

  4. 25-hydroxyvitamin D

    Detect blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm pupa powder.

  5. Alkaline phosphatase

    Detect blood alkaline phosphatase levels

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm pupa powder.

  6. Parathyroid hormone

    Detect parathyroid hormone levels

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm pupa powder.

  7. Calcitonin

    Detect calcitonin levels

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm pupa powder.

  8. Whole abdominal Computerized tomography (CT) scan

    Take the whole abdominal CT scan

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm pupa powder.

  9. Diagnostic criteria of the 2019 Asian Sarcopenia Working Group

    Evaluate sarcopenia again

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking Silkworm pupa powder.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Mini-mental State Examination(MMSE) Scale

    Take the MMSE Scale again

    Time frame: The 4th、8th and 12th week after taking placebo.

  2. Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR) Scale

    Take the CDR Scale again

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking placebo.

  3. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Score

    Take the ECOG Score again

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking placebo.

  4. Head Magnetic Resonance Scan

    Take Head MR again

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking placebo.

  5. Amyloid β-protein(Aβ)

    Detect the blood Amyloid β-protein levels, include Aβ42、Aβ40、Aβ40/42

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking placebo.

  6. Phosphorylated microtubule-associated protein Tau(P-Tau)

    Detect the Phosphorylated microtubule-associated protein Tau levels, include P-tau181、P-tau 217

    Time frame: The 4th 、8th and 12th week after taking placebo.

07

Study locations

1 site
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided — Our research is in the exploratory stage and it is not yet clear what results will be obtained.

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

Start is estimated for Jan 2025; primary completion for Dec 2025, 11 months later.

Of 882 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Alzheimer Disease, half reached primary completion within 30 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 15 and three quarters within 51. This study's planned 11 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 959 studies reached it within 29 months; a quarter within 15 and three quarters within 51.

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

Registered
Dec 29, 2024
First posted
Jan 13, 2025
StartEst.
Jan 2, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Dec 31, 2025
CompletionEst.
Dec 31, 2025
Last update
Jan 13, 2025
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 Jan 13, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06770309
Lead sponsor
Yanbu Ke
Responsible party
Yanbu Ke (The director of Hangzhou First People's Hospital(Hangzhou Geriatric Hospital), First People's Hospital of Hangzhou) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Jan 13, 2025
Start date
Jan 2, 2025 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
Jan 13, 2025

Study contacts

Gaoyi Yang
Contact
keller416@126.com
+86057156739127
Kaile Wang
Contact
576789954@qq.com
+86057156739027

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Dec 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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