A Phase 2 interventional study of Terfenadine and Standard First-line Disease-Modifying Therapy in Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis, sponsored by Chuan Qin. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-18.
Sponsored by Chuan Qin · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of terfenadine when added to standard first-line disease-modifying therapy in adults with multiple sclerosis. The study will also explore whether adding terfenadine may help improve disease-related outcomes.
Researchers will compare participants who receive terfenadine plus standard first-line disease-modifying therapy with participants who receive standard first-line disease-modifying therapy alone.
Participants will:
Be randomly assigned to receive either terfenadine plus standard first-line disease-modifying therapy or standard first-line disease-modifying therapy alone.
Take terfenadine 60 mg once daily at bedtime for 1 month if assigned to the terfenadine group.
Attend study visits during screening, treatment, and follow-up over 12 months. Have physical examinations, vital sign checks, laboratory tests, electrocardiograms, imaging assessments, neurological evaluations, and collection of blood, stool, and cerebrospinal fluid samples at scheduled visits.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system that can cause neurological disability and disease progression. Current disease-modifying therapies can reduce relapses and MRI disease activity, but limitations remain in preventing disability progression and promoting remyelination or neuroprotection.
Terfenadine is a histamine H1 receptor antagonist. Preclinical evidence suggests that histamine signaling may be involved in immune and inflammatory processes relevant to MS. This study will evaluate the safety and tolerability of terfenadine as an adjunct to standard first-line disease-modifying therapy and explore its potential clinical effects in people with MS.
This is a single-center, open-label, randomized controlled clinical trial. Approximately 100 participants will be enrolled and randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to a terfenadine treatment group or a control group. Participants in the terfenadine group will receive terfenadine 60 mg orally once daily at bedtime for 1 month in addition to standard first-line disease-modifying therapy. Participants in the control group will receive standard first-line disease-modifying therapy alone.
Participants will be followed for 12 months. Study assessments will include physical examinations, vital signs, laboratory tests, electrocardiograms, imaging examinations, neurological and functional assessments, quality-of-life assessments, and collection of blood, stool, and cerebrospinal fluid samples at scheduled visits. Safety will be assessed throughout the study by recording and following adverse events and by reviewing relevant clinical and laboratory findings.
618 studies on the registry are indexed under Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting; 82 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 100 is above the median of 66 across 437 interventional studies indexed under Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting.
Browse Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting studies →This is the only study on the registry with Chuan Qin as lead sponsor.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.
The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.
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.
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
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.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
QT and QTc
On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.
The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
NYHA class (heart failure)
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants will receive standard first-line disease-modifying therapy plus terfenadine 60 mg orally once daily at bedtime for 1 month, followed by observation through 12 months.
Drug: Terfenadine · Drug: Standard First-line Disease-Modifying Therapy
Participants will receive standard first-line disease-modifying therapy alone according to routine clinical practice and will be followed for 12 months.
Drug: Standard First-line Disease-Modifying Therapy
Terfenadine will be administered orally at a dose of 60 mg once daily at bedtime for 1 month as add-on therapy to standard first-line disease-modifying therapy.
Participants will receive standard first-line disease-modifying therapy for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis according to routine clinical practice.
Safety and tolerability of terfenadine during the treatment period
Safety and tolerability will be assessed by the incidence and severity of adverse events and serious adverse events, as well as changes or clinically significant abnormalities in vital signs, physical examinations, clinical laboratory tests, electrocardiograms, and imaging examinations.
Time frame: Baseline through 1 month
Safety and tolerability during the 12-month follow-up period
Safety and tolerability will be assessed by the incidence and severity of adverse events and serious adverse events, as well as changes or clinically significant abnormalities in vital signs, physical examinations, clinical laboratory tests, electrocardiograms, and imaging examinations.
Time frame: Baseline through 12 months
Change from baseline in cerebrospinal fluid white blood cell count
Cerebrospinal fluid white blood cell count will be measured at baseline, Month 1, and Month 12, and the change from baseline will be evaluated.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, and Month 12
Change from baseline in cerebrospinal fluid albumin quotient
Cerebrospinal fluid albumin quotient will be measured at baseline, Month 1, and Month 12, and the change from baseline will be evaluated.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, and Month 12
Change from baseline in cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain (NfL)
Cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain (NfL) level will be measured at baseline, Month 1, and Month 12 in pg/mL, and the change from baseline will be evaluated.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, and Month 12
Change from baseline in cerebrospinal fluid oligoclonal bands (OCB)
Cerebrospinal fluid oligoclonal bands (OCB) will be assessed at baseline, Month 1, and Month 12, and the change from baseline will be evaluated.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, and Month 12
Change from baseline in cerebrospinal fluid kappa free light chain (kFLC)
Cerebrospinal fluid kappa free light chain (kFLC) level will be measured at baseline, Month 1, and Month 12 in mg/L, and the change from baseline will be evaluated.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, and Month 12
Change from baseline in cerebrospinal fluid IgG index
Cerebrospinal fluid IgG index will be measured at baseline, Month 1, and Month 12, and the change from baseline will be evaluated.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, and Month 12
Change from baseline in serum neurofilament light chain (NfL)
Serum neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels will be measured at baseline and during follow-up. Changes in serum NfL from baseline will be evaluated at Month 1, Month 3, Month 6, and Month 12.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, Month 3, Month 6, and Month 12
Change from baseline in Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score
Neurological disability will be assessed using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), which ranges from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater disability and a worse outcome. The change in EDSS score from baseline will be evaluated at Month 1, Month 6, and Month 12.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, Month 6, and Month 12
Change from baseline in Timed 25-Foot Walk (T25FW) walking speed
Walking function will be assessed using the Timed 25-Foot Walk (T25FW). The change in T25FW walking speed from baseline will be evaluated at Month 3, Month 6, and Month 12.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 3, Month 6, and Month 12
Change from baseline in Nine-Hole Peg Test (9HPT) completion time
Upper limb motor function will be assessed using the Nine-Hole Peg Test (9HPT). The change in the time required to complete the 9HPT from baseline will be evaluated at Month 3, Month 6, and Month 12.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 3, Month 6, and Month 12
Change from baseline in Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) score
Cognitive function will be assessed using the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), which ranges from 0 to 110, with higher scores indicating better cognitive processing speed. The change in SDMT score from baseline will be evaluated at Month 6 and Month 12.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 6, and Month 12
Change from baseline in Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) score
Overall functional status will be assessed using the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC), a standardized composite measure of neurological function based on the Timed 25-Foot Walk, 9-Hole Peg Test, and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test. The MSFC score is expressed as a standardized z-score, with higher scores indicating better functional performance. The change in MSFC score from baseline will be evaluated at Month 6 and Month 12.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 6, and Month 12
Change from baseline in EQ-5D-5L score
Health-related quality of life will be assessed using the 5-Level EuroQol 5-Dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L). The descriptive system consists of five dimensions, each rated from 1 to 5, with higher dimension scores indicating more severe problems. The EQ-5D-5L responses may be converted to an index value using the applicable value set, with higher index values indicating better health-related quality of life. The change in EQ-5D-5L score from baseline will be evaluated at Month 1 and Month 12.
Time frame: Baseline, Month 1, and Month 12
Confirmed disability progression (CDP) rate at Month 6
Confirmed disability progression will be evaluated at Month 6. CDP will be defined as an increase in EDSS score of at least 1.0 point for participants with a baseline EDSS score of 5.5 or lower, or at least 0.5 point for participants with a baseline EDSS score greater than 5.5, or an increase of at least 20% in T25FW completion time or 9HPT completion time.
Time frame: Baseline to Month 6
Annualized relapse rate at Month 12
Disease relapse will be assessed throughout the study, and the annualized relapse rate will be evaluated through Month 12. The annualized relapse rate at Month 12 will be compared between the terfenadine treatment group and the active comparator group.
Time frame: Baseline through Month 12
MRI T2 lesion activity at Month 12
Brain and spinal cord MRI findings will be evaluated at Month 12. The assessment will include the number of new or enlarging T2 hyperintense lesions, changes from baseline in cumulative T2 lesion number and lesion volume, and the proportion of participants without new T2 hyperintense lesions.
Time frame: Baseline and Month 12
Gadolinium-enhancing T1 lesions on brain MRI at Month 12
Brain MRI findings will be evaluated at Month 12. The assessment will include the change from baseline in the number of gadolinium-enhancing T1 lesions and the proportion of participants without gadolinium-enhancing lesions.
Time frame: Baseline and Month 12
Plan to share: No — Individual participant data will not be shared with other researchers because the study data are intended for analysis by the research team and publication of the study results only.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Aug 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Oct 2027, 14 months after the start.
Of 25 phase 2 interventional studies under Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting, half reached primary completion within 41 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 22 and three quarters within 67. This study's planned 14 months is below that.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting →