Memantine Treatment Study of Pathological Gambling

Phase 2

Completed

Brief Summary: The goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the drug memantine in individuals with pathological gambling (PG). Thirty subjects with DSM-IV PG will receive 10 weeks of open-label treatment with memantine. The hypothesis to be tested is that memantine will be effective and well tolerated in patients with PG. We hypothesize that memantine will reduce the severity of gambling symptoms and improve patients' overall functioning. This study will provide needed data on the treatment of a disabling disorder that currently lacks a clearly effective treatment.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Clinical diagnosis of Pathological Gambling using the clinician-administered Structured Clinical Interview for Pathological Gambling (SCI-PG) (Grant et al., 2004);
Gambling behavior within 2 weeks prior to enrollment;
For women, negative results on a urine pregnancy test and stable use of a medically accepted form of contraception.

Exclusion Criteria

Infrequent gambling (i.e. less than one time per week) that does not meet DSM-IV criteria for PG;
Unstable medical illness or clinically significant abnormalities on laboratory tests, EKG, or physical examination at screen;
History of seizures;
Myocardial infarction within 6 months;
Current pregnancy or lactation, or inadequate contraception in women of childbearing potential;
A need for medication other than memantine with possible psychotropic effects or unfavorable interactions;
Clinically significant suicidality;
Current Axis I disorder determined by the SCID and SCID-compatible modules for impulse control disorders (Grant et al., 2005), except for nicotine dependence;
Lifetime history of bipolar disorder type I or II, dementia, schizophrenia, or any psychotic disorder determined by SCID;
Current or recent (past 3 months) DSM-IV substance abuse or dependence;
Positive urine drug screen at screening;
Initiation of psychotherapy or behavior therapy within 3 months prior to study baseline;
Previous treatment with memantine;
Treatment with investigational medication or depot neuroleptics within 3 months, with fluoxetine within 6 weeks, or with other psychotropics within 2 weeks prior to study baseline.

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
memantine	Memantine Hydrochloride	10 to 30 mg/day memantine. The study consisted of 10 weeks of open-label memantine. All eligible study subjects were started at 10 mg/day for 2 weeks. The dose was increased to 20 mg/day after 2 weeks and then to 30 mg/day after 4 weeks unless remission of PG symptoms was attained at a lower dose.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modified for Pathological Gambling (PG-YBOCS)	Baseline to study end point (10 weeks)	The PGYBOCS is a reliable \& valid, 10-item, clinician administered scale that rates gambling symptoms within the last 7 days. The first 5 questions assess urges and thoughts associated with pathological gambling, and the last 5 questions assess the behavioral component of the disorder. Scores of 0 through 4 are assigned each item according to the severity of the response (0 = least severe response or none, 4 = most severe response or extreme)with a score ranging from 0-40. Each set of questions (1-5 and 6-10) can be totaled separately for the component score (urges/thoughts and behavioral) as well as together for a total score. A score of 0 indicates no problems while increasing scores indicate increasing severity of problems with gambling. PG-YBOCS is used to measure changes across time. A decreasing score indicates a possible positive response to the intervention. Total score at baseline was compared with the study end to determine if the intervention was efficacious.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method

Locations (2): Yale University School of Medicine
🇺🇸
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview
🇺🇸
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States