A Study of Aticaprant in Adult and Elderly Participants With Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Phase 3

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Depressive Disorder, Major
• Interventions: Drug: Aticaprant

• Registration Number: NCT05518149
• Lead Sponsor: Janssen Research & Development, LLC

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to assess the long-term safety and tolerability of aticaprant administered as adjunctive therapy to a current antidepressant (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor \[SSRI\] or serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor \[SNRI\]) in all participants with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-08-25
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-08-25
• Study First Posted: 2022-08-26
• Study Start: 2022-09-22
• Status Verified: 2025-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-04-02
• Last Update Posted: 2025-04-03
• Primary Completion: 2025-04-11
• Study Completion: 2025-04-25

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 840

Inclusion Criteria

Transferred-entry participants:

-Participants must have completed the double blind (DB) (expand DB) Treatment Phase of Study 67953964MDD3001 or Study 67953964MDD3002 without early treatment discontinuation or switch in the oral selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor/serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SSRI/SNRI) in the parent study

Direct-entry participants:

• Have a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS)-17 total score of 20 or higher at the first and second screening interviews and must not demonstrate a clinically significant improvement (that is, an improvement of more than 20 percent (%) on their HDRS-17 total score) between the first and the second independent HDRS-17 assessments
• Have had an inadequate response to at least 1 oral antidepressant treatment, administered at an adequate dose (at or above the minimum therapeutic dose per Massachusetts general hospital antidepressant treatment response questionnaire [MGH ATRQ]) and duration (at least 6 weeks) in the current episode of depression
• Must be an outpatient at open-label treatment phase baseline
• Meet Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th Edition (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria for recurrent or single episode major depressive disorder (MDD), without psychotic features, based upon clinical assessment and confirmed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Axis I Disorders-Clinical Trials Version (SCID-CT)

Direct-entry and Transferred-entry Participants:

-Participants should not take any prohibited medication or food supplements

Exclusion Criteria

Transferred-entry Participants:

• Participant has been non-compliant with the study intervention administration in the DB Treatment Phase in either of Studies 67953964MDD3001 or 67953964MDD3002 (that is, have missed either 4 or more consecutive doses of study intervention or a total of 8 or more doses during the DB Treatment Phase)
• Participant has any condition or situation/circumstance for which, in the opinion of the investigator, participation would not be in the best interest of the participant (example, compromise the well-being) or that could prevent, limit, or confound the protocol specified assessments

Direct-entry Participants:

• Employee of the investigator or study site, with direct involvement in the proposed study or other studies under the direction of that investigator or study site, as well as family members of the employees or the investigator
• Has a history or evidence of clinically meaningful noncompliance with current antidepressant therapy
• Known allergies, hypersensitivity, or intolerance to aticaprant or any of its excipients

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Aticaprant 10 mg	Aticaprant	Participants will enter this study directly or after completing double-blind phase of studies 67953964MDD3001 or 67953964MDD3002 and will receive Aticaprant 10 milligrams (mg), once daily, orally in addition to the current antidepressant selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor/serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SSRI/SNRI) therapy on Day 1 up to 52 weeks.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Withdrawal Symptoms Assessment Using the Physician Withdrawal Checklist (PWC-20)	Up to Week 54	Withdrawal symptoms are assessed using the PWC-20. The PWC-20 is a simple and accurate method used to assess potential withdrawal symptoms following cessation of treatment. The PWC-20 is a reliable and sensitive instrument for the assessment of discontinuation symptoms.
Number of Participants with Adverse Events (AEs)	Up to Week 54	An AE is any untoward medical occurrence in a clinical study participant administered a pharmaceutical (investigational or non-investigational) product. An AE does not necessarily have causal relationship with the intervention. An AE can therefore be any unfavorable and unintended sign (including an abnormal finding), symptom, or disease temporally associated with the use of a medicinal (investigational or non-investigational) product, whether or not related to that medicinal (investigational or non-investigational) product.
Number of Participants with Abnormal Body Mass Index (BMI)	Up to Week 54	A BMI between 18.5 and 25 kilogram per meter square (kg/m\^2) indicates a normal weight.
Number of Participants with Abnormalities in Clinical Laboratory parameters	Up to Week 54	Number of participants with abnormalities in clinical laboratory parameters will be reported.
Number of participants with Clinically Relevant Sexual Dysfunction Over Time as Measured by the Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale (ASEX) Score	Up to Week 54	The ASEX is a participant-reported five-item rating scale that quantifies sex drive, arousal, vaginal lubrication/penile erection, ability to reach orgasm, and satisfaction from orgasm. Each of the 5 items is rated on a 6-point scale, ranging from 1 to 6. Total score ranges from 5 to 30, with the higher scores indicating more sexual dysfunction.
Number of Participants with Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI)	Up to Week 54	AEs considered to be of special interest are as Pruritus and Diarrhea.
Number of Participants with Abnormal Body Weight	Up to Week 54	Participants will be weighed at approximately the same time of day on the same scale, wearing lightweight clothing without shoes; they will be instructed to empty their bladders before being weighed.
Percentage of Participants with Suicidal Ideation or Suicidal Behavior based on the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)	Up to Week 54	C-SSRS is semi structured clinician-administered questionnaire designed to solicit the occurrence, severity, and frequency of suicide-related ideation and behaviors. The maximum score assigned for each participant will also be summarized into one of three categories: no suicidal ideation or behavior (0), suicidal ideation (1-5), suicidal behavior (6-10). Total score ranges from 1 to 10. Higher scores indicate greater severity.
Number of Participants with Change from Baseline in Vital Signs Abnormalities	Up to Week 54	Vital signs include body weight, temperature, pulse/heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse oximetry and blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) values.
Number of Participants with Abnormalities in Electrocardiogram (ECG)	Up to Week 54	Number of participants with abnormalities in ECG will be reported.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change from Baseline in the Montgomery-asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) Total Score Over Time	Baseline up to Week 54	Change from baseline in MADRS total score over time will be reported. The MADRS is a clinician-rated scale designed to measure depression severity and detects changes due to antidepressant treatment. The scale consists of 10 items, each of which is scored from 0 (item not present or normal) to 6 (severe or continuous presence of the symptoms), for a total score of 60. Higher scores represent a more severe condition.
Change from Baseline in the Participant Health Questionnaire, 9-Item (PHQ-9) Total Score over Time	Baseline up to Week 54	Change from baseline in PHQ-9 total score over time will be reported. The 9-item PHQ-9 scale scores each of the 9 symptom domains of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th Edition (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria for recurrent or single episode major depressive disorder (MDD) criteria and used both as a screening tool and a measure of response to treatment for depression. Each item is rated on a 4-point scale (0=not at all, 1=several days, 2=more than half the days, and 3=nearly every day). The participant's item responses are summed to provide a total score (range of 0 to 27), with higher scores indicating greater severity of depressive symptoms.
Change from Baseline in Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale (DARS) Total Score Over Time	Baseline up to Week 54	Change from baseline in DARS total score over time will be reported. The DARS is a 17-item self-report questionnaire that is designed to assess anhedonia in MDD, and particularly to increase scale generalizability while maintaining specificity. Respondents provide their own examples of rewarding experiences across the domains of hobbies, social activities, food/drink, and sensory experience. Participants answer a set of standardized questions about desire, motivation, effort and consummatory pleasure with a recall period of "right now" for the examples provided. The instrument is scored as a total sum of all items (range 0-68) with higher scores reflecting increased motivation, effort and pleasure (that is, less anhedonia).
Change from Baseline in the Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) Total Score Over Time	Baseline up to Week 54	Change from baseline in the CGI-S total score over time will be reported. The CGI-S evaluates the severity of psychopathology on a scale of 0 to 7. Considering total clinical experience, a participant is assessed on severity of mental illness at the time of rating according to: 0=not assessed; 1=normal (not at all ill); 2=borderline mentally ill; 3=mildly ill; 4=moderately ill; 5=markedly ill; 6=severely ill; 7=among the most extremely ill participants. The CGI-S permits a global evaluation of the participant's condition at a given time.
Percentage of Participants with Greater than or Equal to (>=) 50 percent (%) Reduction from Baseline in the MADRS Total Score Over Time	Week 54	Percentage of participants with \>=50% reduction from baseline in the MADRS total score over time will be reported. The MADRS is a clinician-rated scale designed to measure depression severity and detects changes due to antidepressant treatment. The scale consists of 10 items, each of which is scored from 0 (item not present or normal) to 6 (severe or continuous presence of the symptoms), for a total score of 60. Higher scores represent a more severe condition.
Percentage of Participants with Remission of Depressive Symptoms Over Time	Week 54	Percentage of participants with remission of depressive symptoms over time, defined as a MADRS total score less than or equal to (\<=) 10 will be reported. The MADRS is a clinician-rated scale designed to measure depression severity and detects changes due to antidepressant treatment. The scale consists of 10 items, each of which is scored from 0 (item not present or normal) to 6 (severe or continuous presence of the symptoms), for a total score of 60. Higher scores represent a more severe condition.

Trial Locations

Locations (224)

University of Alabama at Birmingham - The Kirklin Clinic; 🇺🇸 Birmingham, Alabama, United States

SW Biomedical Research LLC; 🇺🇸 Tucson, Arizona, United States

University of Arizona; 🇺🇸 Tucson, Arizona, United States

Advanced Research Center Inc; 🇺🇸 Anaheim, California, United States

Proscience Research Group; 🇺🇸 Culver City, California, United States

Behavioral Research Specialists LLC; 🇺🇸 Glendale, California, United States

Sunwise Clinical Research; 🇺🇸 Lafayette, California, United States

Asclepes Research; 🇺🇸 Long Beach, California, United States

Excell Research Inc; 🇺🇸 Oceanside, California, United States

Pacific Neuropsychiatric Specialists; 🇺🇸 Orange, California, United States

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