ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT07151378INITIATE-LECIGUpdated Jul 13, 2026

Intestinal Levodopa + Entacapone Therapy (Lecigon®) to Counteract Dopaminergic Desensitization and Neuropsychiatric Complications in Parkinson's Disease

A Phase 3 interventional study of LECIG (levodopa, carbidopa, entacapone intestinal gel) and Best oral medication in PARKINSON DISEASE (Disorder), sponsored by University Hospital Tuebingen. Recruiting at 7 sites in Germany. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-13.

Sponsored by University Hospital Tuebingen · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Oct 2025; still recruiting 1 year later.
Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
150
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study is a Phase III multicentric randomized controlled trial with parallel group design and waiting list in patients that have an indication to undergo intestinal L-Dopa + entacapone (Lecigon®) under the existing indication criteria (according to SmPC (Fachinformation) Lecigon®). As primary endpoint, we will analyze the difference of the pre-interventional baseline and 6-month follow-up on the "hyperdopaminergic symptoms" corresponding to section 3 of the "Ardouin Behavioural Scale" hypothesizing on the superiority of LECIG therapy compared to best medical treatment.

02

Conditions studied

  • PARKINSON DISEASE (Disorder)

Keywords

  • LECIG
  • device assisted therapy
  • motor and non-motor fluctuations
  • dopaminergic complications
  • impulse control disorder
  • levodopa seeking
  • dopamine dysregulation syndrom
  • dopamine agonist
  • intestinal levodopa
03

In context

Parkinson Disease

4,573 studies on the registry are indexed under Parkinson Disease; 1,086 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 150 is above the median of 40 across 3,353 interventional studies indexed under Parkinson Disease.

Browse Parkinson Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

University Hospital Tuebingen is the lead sponsor of 490 studies on the registry; 108 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 75 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

  • Understand and voluntarily sign an document prior to any study related assessments/procedures. 2. Able to adhere to the study visit schedule and other protocol requirements. 3. Female Subject of childbearing potential1 and male subjects with female partner of childbearing potential1 is willing to use highly effective methods during the study (adequate: combined hormonal contraception associated with inhibition of ovulation, progestogen-only hormonal contraception associated with inhibition of ovulation, intrauterine device, intrauterine hormone-releasing system, bilateral tubal occlusion, vasectomized partner2, sexual abstinence3).

    1. For the purpose of this document, a female is considered of (FCBP), i.e. fertile, following menarche and until becoming unless permanently sterile. Permanent sterilisation methods include hysterectomy, bilateral salpingectomy and bilateral oophorectomy. A postmenopausal state is defined as no menses for 12 months without an alternative medical cause. A high follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level in the postmenopausal range may be used to confirm a post-menopausal state in women not using hormonal contraception or hormonal replacement therapy. However in the absence of 12 months of amenorrhea, a single FSH measurement is insufficient. For the purpose of this document, a man is considered fertile after puberty unless permanently sterile by bilateral orchidectomy
    2. Vasectomized partner is a highly effective birth control method provided that partner is the sole sexual partner of the WOCBP trial participant and that the vasectomized partner has received medical assessment of the surgical success
    3. In the context of this guidance sexual abstinence is considered a highly effective method only if defined as refraining from heterosexual intercourse during the entire period of risk associated with the study treatments. The reliability of sexual abstinence needs to be evaluated in relation to the duration of the clinical trial and the preferred and usual lifestyle of the subject. 4. All subjects must agree not to share medication. 5. Diagnosis of Idiopathic PD, inclusive of familial PD and genetic forms of L-Dopa responsive PD Age 18 - 75 years 7. Age at Parkinson's disease onset before 65 years 8. Disease duration ≥ 5 years 9. Oral medication constant for four weeks prior to baseline visit 10. Oral treatment with L-Dopa and non-ergot dopamine agonist(s) (any preparation, any dosage) 11. Presence of dopaminergic motor fluctuations based on patient history 12. Presence of dopaminergic neuropsychiatric (affective) fluctuations based on patient history 13. Presence of behavioural hyperdopaminergic syndrome including neuropsychiatric behavioural abnormalities according Ardouin Behavioural Scale Section 1, hypomanic symptoms, psychosis + Section 4 hyperdopaminergic behaviours (score ≥ 3), eventually further accompanied by impulse control disorders, a/o dopamine dysregulation, syndrome, a/o hallucination - psychosis spectrum; in case symptoms of the hallucination/psychosis or hypomania-mania spectrum are present, retained insight is mandatory at the time of study enrolment

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • 1.Women during pregnancy and lactation. 2. History of to the medicinal product or to any drug with similar chemical structure or to any present in the pharmaceutical form of the investigational medicinal product. 3. Participation in other clinical trials or observation period of competing trials over the past three months 4. Patients suffering from cognitive impairment ( \< 21) will be excluded for the major reason to obtain valid Ardouin assessments that will be hampered in case cognitive impairment (and therefore insight) is too severe 5. Acute paranoid psychosis without retained insight (however impulse control disorder or dopamine dysregulation syndrome are not an exclusion criterion; illusions or (pseudo)-hallucinations are not an exclusion criterion as long as there is no endangerment of the patients themselves or other persons owing to clinical judgement; patients may be eligible after remission of psychosis/suicidality) 6. Severe depression according to ICD-10 criteria; however, affective fluctuations with intermittent depressive symptoms (reversed by dopaminergic medication) are not an exclusion criterion 7. Active suicidality without self-distancing (however, suicidal ideation/thoughts or passive wishes of being dead are not an exclusion criterion as long as the patient is credibly distancing from it). 8. General for intestinal L-Dopa therapy (according to Lecigon® Fachinformation) 9. Gastrointestinal contraindications against PEG-J tube placement 10. Tremor-dominant PD without dopaminergic response fluctuationt Pre-existing device assisted therapy (DAT) immediately before study enrolment including with DBS, LCIG/LECIG, or subcutaneous therapy with apomorphine or foslevodopa; if patient terminated pre-existing subcutaneous therapy, the patient will be eligible after having received oral dopamine replacement therapy for at least 3 months 12. in a non-remitted stage
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(11)

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

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.

Excipients

The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.

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.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

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 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
150 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Best oral medical treatment: the patients in this arm will be continue the treatment they were in f

    Amog others L\_DOPA + Decarboxymethylasehemmer Dopamine agonist Amantadine COMT-Inhibitors

    Drug: Best oral medication

  • Experimental
    Lecigon®

    Drug: LECIG (levodopa, carbidopa, entacapone intestinal gel)

Interventions

  • DrugLECIG (levodopa, carbidopa, entacapone intestinal gel)

    intestinal L-Dopa + entacapone (Lecigon®)

  • DrugBest oral medication

    Best oral medication

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Ardouin Behavioral Scale (hyperdopaminergic syndrome)

    To show superiority of LECIG therapy compared to best medical treatment on "hyperdopaminergic symptoms" corresponding to Section 1 (items 2 \& 4), and section 4 (all items) of the "Ardouin Behavioural Scale" between pre-interventional baseline and 6- month follow-up

    Time frame: 6 months

07

Study locations

5 of 7 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Weintraub D, Koester J, Potenza MN, Siderowf AD, Stacy M, Voon V, Whetteckey J, Wunderlich GR, Lang AE. Impulse control disorders in Parkinson disease: a cross-sectional study of 3090 patients. Arch Neurol. 2010 May;67(5):589-95. doi: 10.1001/archneurol.2010.65. PubMed 20457959 ↗
  • Lhommee E, Wojtecki L, Czernecki V, Witt K, Maier F, Tonder L, Timmermann L, Halbig TD, Pineau F, Durif F, Witjas T, Pinsker M, Mehdorn M, Sixel-Doring F, Kupsch A, Kruger R, Elben S, Chabardes S, Thobois S, Brefel-Courbon C, Ory-Magne F, Regis JM, Maltete D, Sauvaget A, Rau J, Schnitzler A, Schupbach M, Schade-Brittinger C, Deuschl G, Houeto JL, Krack P; EARLYSTIM study group. Behavioural outcomes of subthalamic stimulation and medical therapy versus medical therapy alone for Parkinson's disease with early motor complications (EARLYSTIM trial): secondary analysis of an open-label randomised trial. Lancet Neurol. 2018 Mar;17(3):223-231. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30035-8. PubMed 29452685 ↗
  • Weintraub D, Mamikonyan E. The Neuropsychiatry of Parkinson Disease: A Perfect Storm. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2019 Sep;27(9):998-1018. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2019.03.002. Epub 2019 Mar 9. PubMed 31006550 ↗
  • Calabresi P, Di Filippo M, Ghiglieri V, Tambasco N, Picconi B. Levodopa-induced dyskinesias in patients with Parkinson's disease: filling the bench-to-bedside gap. Lancet Neurol. 2010 Nov;9(11):1106-17. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(10)70218-0. Epub 2010 Sep 27. PubMed 20880751 ↗
  • Weiss D, Ebersbach G, Moller JC, Schwarz J, Arlt C, Fritz B, Sensken SC, Eggert K. Do we start too late? Insights from the real-world non-interventional BALANCE study on the present use of levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel in advanced Parkinson's disease in Germany and Switzerland. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2022 Oct;103:85-91. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2022.08.018. Epub 2022 Aug 24. PubMed 36087571 ↗
  • Weiss D, Jost WH, Szasz JA, Pirtosek Z, Milanov I, Tomantschger V, Kovacs N, Staines H, Amlani B, Smith N, van Laar T. Levodopa-Entacapone-Carbidopa Intrajejunal Infusion in Advanced Parkinson's Disease - Interim Analysis of the ELEGANCE Study. Mov Disord Clin Pract. 2025 Aug;12(8):1075-1085. doi: 10.1002/mdc3.70046. Epub 2025 Mar 25. PubMed 40129359 ↗
  • Weiss D, Volkmann J, Fasano A, Kuhn A, Krack P, Deuschl G. Changing Gears - DBS For Dopaminergic Desensitization in Parkinson's Disease? Ann Neurol. 2021 Nov;90(5):699-710. doi: 10.1002/ana.26164. Epub 2021 Jul 20. PubMed 34235776 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

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 Oct 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Sep 2030, 58 months after the start.

Of 67 phase 3 interventional studies under Parkinson Disease, half reached primary completion within 35 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 22 and three quarters within 56. This study's planned 58 months is above that.

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

Registered
Jun 27, 2025
First posted
Sep 3, 2025
StartActual
Oct 27, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Sep 22, 2030
CompletionEst.
Sep 22, 2030
Last update
Jul 13, 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.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 13, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07151378
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 3, 2025
Start date
Oct 27, 2025
Primary completion
Sep 22, 2030 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 22, 2030 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 13, 2026

Study contacts

Daniel Weiss, Prof
Contact
Daniel.weiss@uni-tuebingen.de
0049 (0) 7071-29-82340

Oversight

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

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