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RecruitingNCT07380113AnrikefonUpdated Aug 25, 2026

Anrikefon vs Nalfurafine for Sleep Quality in Hemodialysis Patients With CKD-aP

A Phase 4 interventional study of Anrikefon and Nalfurafine in Pruritus Chronic, Kidney Diseases, Chronic and Renal Insufficiency, Chronic, sponsored by Zhujiang Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-25.

Sponsored by Zhujiang Hospital · Phase 4, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Jun 2026; still recruiting 4 months later.
Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
50
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare a new intravenous drug, Anruikefen, with a traditional oral medication, nalfurafine orally disintegrating tablets, in improving sleep quality in patients with chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus. Sleep quality will be primarily assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The study will also evaluate the safety of Anruikefen.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Does Anruikefen injection improve sleep quality better than oral nalfurafine?
  • Does Anruikefen injection improve patients' quality of life more than oral nalfurafine? Researchers will compare Anruikefen with nalfurafine (an active control drug) to evaluate differences in their effects on sleep quality in patients with chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus.

Participants will:

  • Receive either Anruikefen injection (0.3 μg/kg, three times per week) or nalfurafine hydrochloride orally disintegrating tablets (2.5 μg once daily).
  • Continue treatment for 4 weeks, followed by a 1-week safety follow-up.
  • Complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and other quality-of-life questionnaires after one month.
Read the detailed description

This study adopts an open-label, randomized controlled design and enrolls patients with CKD-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) with a WI-NRS score ≥4. Participants are randomized to receive either anrikefon intravenous injection (0.3 μg/kg, three times per week) or nalfurafine orally disintegrating tablets administered orally (2.5 μg/day) for 4 weeks. The primary endpoint is the difference in sleep quality improvement assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Secondary endpoints include Skindex-10, the 5-D Itch Scale, WI-NRS, KDQOL-36, Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC), mechanical pain threshold, and serum proteomic analyses. Vital signs, laboratory parameters, and adverse events are monitored throughout the study to comprehensively evaluate the efficacy and safety of the two κ-opioid receptor agonist therapies.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pruritus Chronic
  • Kidney Diseases, Chronic
  • Renal Insufficiency, Chronic
  • Uremia; Chronic
  • Pruritus Due to Systemic Disorder (Disorder)
  • Pruritus Due to Hemodialysis
03

In context

Renal Insufficiency, Chronic

3,090 studies on the registry are indexed under Renal Insufficiency, Chronic; 698 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 50 is below the median of 73 across 2,157 interventional studies indexed under Renal Insufficiency, Chronic.

Browse Renal Insufficiency, Chronic studies →

Lead sponsor

Zhujiang Hospital is the lead sponsor of 202 studies on the registry; 96 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

  1. Be able to understand the procedures and methods of this trial, be willing to strictly follow the clinical research protocol to complete this trial, and voluntarily sign the form.
  2. Male or female individuals aged 18 or above and 75 or above.
  3. Patients with end-stage renal disease received regular hemodialysis three times a week before the screening period (whether they met the requirements for regular dialysis was determined based on the opinions of the researchers).
  4. Meet the diagnostic criteria for chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP).

    1. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) presenting with pruritus, with other identifiable causes of pruritus excluded.
    2. Pruritus occurring on at least 3 days within a 2-week period, with multiple episodes per day, each lasting for several minutes, and having an impact on the patient's daily life.
    3. Recurrent pruritus persisting for at least 6 weeks.A diagnosis requires that all three criteria above be met simultaneously.
  5. The subjects were evaluated using the Worst Itch Numerical Rating Scale (WI-NRS) for the most severe pruritus intensity and met the baseline pruritus intensity of ≥ 4 points.
  6. The subjects have completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) assessment during the screening period and met the baseline PSQI score > 7 points.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Participants with other serious systemic diseases that may affect their ability to participate in the study, as assessed by the investigator, including but not limited to:

    1. Severe cardiovascular diseases, such as unstable angina, myocardial infarction, severe arrhythmias, World Health Organization (WHO) heart function classification III-IV during screening, poorly controlled hypertension or hypotension despite active treatment, and recurrent asthma.
    2. A history of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) within the last 6 months.
    3. Malignant tumors, excluding those that are curable, such as cervical carcinoma in situ, basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, or any other cancer that has been cured (with no evidence of disease recurrence for 5 years).
  2. It is expected to undergo kidney transplantation and/or parathyroidectomy during the study period.
  3. The subjects are currently undergoing ultraviolet B treatment or are expected to receive such treatment during the study period.
  4. Have participated in any clinical trials of other drugs or medical devices within one month prior to screening (treatment with drugs or medical devices that have received clinical trials).
  5. Patients who have used the following drugs within 7 days before screening:

    1. those who have used opioids.
    2. those who must use opioids other than the drug during the study period.
    3. those who has used gabapentin, pregabalin and calcineurin inhibitors;
    4. those who use drugs that can affect the efficacy judgment of anti-itching, including but not limited to antipsychotic drugs, sedative-hypnotic drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), anti-anxiety drugs, or tricyclic antidepressants.
  6. After screening and enrollment, new antihistamines (such as antihistamines and , etc. (oral, intravenous or topical)) were prescribed, or the types, dosages or frequencies of these drugs were changed.
  7. Patients who have used any hypnotic or sedative medications (including benzodiazepine hypnotics, non-benzodiazepine hypnotics, melatonin receptor agonists, etc.) within 1 month prior to the screening period and baseline assessment.
  8. There is a history of allergy to opioid drugs, or it is known that there is a history of allergy to investigatory drugs or components of remedial drugs or other drugs or with similar chemical structures.
  9. Severe hematological and liver function abnormalities during screening, meeting any one of the following clinical laboratory test results:

    1. Hematology: \< 80g/L.
    2. Liver function:

      • (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) > 2.5× (ULN).
      • Total (TBIL) > 2×ULN.
  10. Subjects who had any active infections during screening and whom the researchers considered unsuitable for inclusion (including but not limited to acute hepatitis, skin infections, etc.).
  11. As determined by the researchers, any other physical or mental illness or condition that may increase the risk of the trial, affect the subjects' compliance with the protocol, or affect the subjects' completion of the trial.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(8)

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.

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.

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.

Excipients

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

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).

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.

05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Anrikefon

    Participants receive anrikefon injection at a dose of 0.3 μg/kg, administered three times per week after dialysis, for 4 consecutive weeks.

    Drug: Anrikefon

  • Active comparator
    Nalfurafine

    Participants receive nalfurafine hydrochloride orally disintegrating tablets at a dose of 2.5 μg per day, administered orally after dinner, for 4 weeks.

    Drug: Nalfurafine

Interventions

  • intravenous administration

    Also known as: HSK21542

  • oral administration

    Also known as: TRK-820, Nalfurafine hydrochloride

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

    Questionnaire survey

    Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks after medication

Secondary outcomes

  1. 5D-itching scale

    Questionnaire survey

    Time frame: Baseline,2/4 weeks after medication

  2. Skindex-10 scale

    Questionnaire survey

    Time frame: Baseline,1 /2 /3/ 4 weeks after medication

  3. WI-NRS score

    Questionnaire survey

    Time frame: Baseline, every dialysis day during the treatment period

  4. Kidney Disease Quality of Life instrument™ - 36 items

    Questionnaire survey

    Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks after medication

  5. Patient Global Impression of Change

    Questionnaire survey

    Time frame: 4 weeks after medication

  6. Mechanical pain threshold

    The electronic pressure sensor pain measurement method involves connecting a probe with a relatively thin tip to a force sensor. Based on the principle of Newton's third law, it records in real time the magnitude of the force applied by the probe to the pain measurement site. The pressure number at which the subject first feels pain is the pain threshold.

    Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks after medication

  7. Peripheral blood metabolomics analysis

    Peripheral blood samples will be analyzed using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

    Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks after medication

  8. Peripheral blood proteomics analysis

    The proteins in blood will be digested with trypsin to obtain peptides. The peptides will be analyzed by liquid nanochromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The identification of the proteins will be carried out using the UniProt Homo Sapiens database using the Proteome Discoverer software (ThermoFisher Scientific). All proteomic markers in capillary blood will be reported in arbitrary units as a relative unit of measurement.

    Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks after medication

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 253 Gongye Road, Guangzhou, 510282, China
    Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, China
    Recruiting
    • Fengxian Li · Contact+86-20-61643299
08

Updates

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

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07380113
Lead sponsor
Zhujiang Hospital
Responsible party
Fengxian Li (Chief Physician, Zhujiang Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 2, 2026
Start date
Jun 22, 2026
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 25, 2026

Study contacts

Fengxian Li, DM
Contact
lifengxian81@smu.edu.cn
+86-20-62782857

Oversight

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

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