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A 12-Week, Placebo Controlled Trial of Ziprasidone as Monotherapy for Major Depressive Disorder

Phase 2
Completed
Conditions
Major Depressive Disorder
Interventions
Drug: Placebo
Registration Number
NCT00555997
Lead Sponsor
Massachusetts General Hospital
Brief Summary

This is a study on the effectiveness, tolerability and safety of oral ziprasidone as monotherapy in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Outpatients suffering from MDD will be treated with either ziprasidone or placebo for 12 weeks.

Hypothesis: There will be a statistically significant difference in the magnitude of response, as measured by a decrease in baseline 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-17) scores, between the two treatment groups; the reduction in HAM-D-17 scores will be greater in the ziprasidone monotherapy group than in the placebo group.

Detailed Description

Exploratory hypothesis 1: There will be a statistically significant difference in the percentage of responders in the two treatment groups; response rates will be significantly higher for the ziprasidone monotherapy compared to the placebo group.

Exploratory hypothesis 2: The change in 6-VAS-D scores during the trial will be highly correlated to the change in HAM-D-17 and QIDS-SR during the trial.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
120
Inclusion Criteria
  1. Age 18-65.
  2. Written informed consent.
  3. MDD, current according to the fourth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as diagnosed by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI; Sheehan et al, 1998).
  4. Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Self-Rated (QIDS-SR- Trivedi et al, 2004) score of at least 10 at both screen and baseline visits.
Exclusion Criteria
  1. Pregnant women.
  2. Women of child bearing potential who are not using a medically accepted means of contraception (to include oral contraceptive or implant, condom, diaphragm, spermicide, intrauterine device, tubal ligation, or a partner with vasectomy).
  3. Treatment with antidepressants for 2 weeks prior to the screen visit. If interested in discontinuing their current medication, potential participants must discuss this possibility with the prescribing physician. Study doctors will not implement any form of treatment washout.
  4. Patients who no longer meet DSM-IV criteria for MDD during the baseline visit, or patients who demonstrate a 25% or greater reduction in QIDS-SR scores, screening to baseline.
  5. Serious suicide or homicide risk, as assessed by the evaluating clinician or a score of 4 on the third item of the HAM-D.
  6. Unstable medical illness including cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, respiratory, endocrine, neurological, or hematological disease.
  7. Patients who meet criteria for alcohol or substance dependence, active within the last month.
  8. Any bipolar disorder (current or past).
  9. Any psychotic disorder (current or past).
  10. Psychotic features in the current episode or a history of psychotic features.
  11. History of a seizure disorder.
  12. Clinical or laboratory evidence of untreated hypothyroidism.
  13. Patients requiring excluded medications (see table 1 for details).
  14. Prior course of ziprasidone, or intolerance to ziprasidone at any dose.
  15. Any investigational psychotropic drug within the last 3 months.
  16. Patients with significant cardiac conduction problems on screening electrocardiogram such as atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, atrio-ventricular block, prolonged or abnormal QTc interval (i.e. QTc>450msec), or prolonged QRS interval.
  17. Patients who have suffered a myocardial infarction within the past 12 months, with uncompensated heart failure, or a history of QTc prolongation.
  18. Patients with abnormal serum potassium or magnesium levels upon screening.
  19. Patients currently taking other drugs that prolong the QTc including dofetilide, sotalol, quinidine, class Ia antiarrhythmics, class III antiarrhythmics, mesoridazine, thioridazine, chlorpromazine, droperidol, pimozide, sparfloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin, halofantrine, mefloquine, pentamidine, arsenic trioxide, levomethadyl acetate, dolasetron methylate, probucol or tacrolimus.
  20. Patients who have failed to experience significant clinical improvement following 3 or more antidepressant trials of adequate duration (at least 6 weeks) and dose (minimal effective doses defined as: fluoxetine, paroxetine, citalopram 20mg; sertraline, fluvoxamine 50mg, escitalopram 10mg, paroxetine CR 25mg, venlafaxine 75mg, duloxetine 60mg, bupropion 150mg, 15mg of mirtazapine, trazodone or nefazodone 300mg).

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
3PlaceboPatients in Group 3 will receive placebo for the full 12 weeks of the study.
2ZiprasidonePatients in Group 2 will receive placebo for the first 6 weeks of the study, then will receive Ziprasidone for the last 6 weeks.
1ZiprasidonePatients in group 1 will receive Ziprasidone for the full 12 weeks of the study.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-17) Scores6 weeks

Higher numbers represent more symptoms of a major depressive episode. Minimum is 0. Maximum is 52.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Responder/Non-responder6 weeks

A responder during phase 1 or phase 2 is someone who demonstrated a 50% or greater decrease in HAMD-17 scores during phase 1 or phase 2 (corresponding).

Change in 6-VAS-D Scores During Each Phase.6 weeks

Trial Locations

Locations (7)

Psychiatric Medicine Associates, L.L.C.

🇺🇸

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Massachusetts General Hosptial

🇺🇸

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Cambridge Health Alliance

🇺🇸

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

🇺🇸

Los Angeles, California, United States

University of Connecticut Health Center

🇺🇸

Farmington, Connecticut, United States

Comprehensive Psychiatric Care

🇺🇸

Norwich, Connecticut, United States

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

🇺🇸

Nashville, Tennessee, United States

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