Manipulating Ghrelin Signaling Via GOAT Inhibition in Alcohol Use Disorder

• Status: Recruiting
• Trial end date: 2022-12-31
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Background:

People with alcohol use disorder (AUD) have trouble controlling their drinking. Medications can help some people with AUD but are not effective for many others. Researchers want to test new drugs to better treat the disease.

Objective:

To see if the investigational drug GLWL-01 is safe to use in people with alcohol problems. Also, to find out if the drug reduces the urge to drink alcohol.

Eligibility:

People ages 18-70 with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

Design:

Participants will be screened under protocol 06-DA-N415.

Participants will be admitted to the inpatient facility, Clinical Research Unit (CRU) on the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for up to 21 days. They may leave the CRU on specified days pending approval. All their meals will be provided. They cannot drink alcohol.

Participants will take either the study drug or a placebo by mouth twice daily. They will not know which they are receiving.

Participants will complete many questionnaires.

Participants may have urine tests.

Participants will complete tasks on a computer.

Participants will have blood samples obtained on some study days.

Participants will taste and indicate their preference for sweet liquids.

Participants' blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, body temperature and weight, heart rate and rhythm will be measured.

Participants will have breath testing to obtain information about smoking.

Participants will be exposed to alcohol cues, water, and food cues in a bar-like room. Cues are things that might make them feel the urge to eat or drink alcohol.

Participants will take part in a virtual buffet experiment. They will wear a virtual reality headset, walk around a virtual room, and select virtual food and drink....

• Phase: Phase 1/Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA); National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Treatments: Ethanol

Criteria

• INCLUSION CRITERIA:

• Alcohol Use Disorder (Minimum 2 symptoms on MINI)

• Male or female individuals 18-70 years old (inclusive)

• Able to speak, read, write and understand English

• Most recent urine drug test for benzodiazepines, barbiturates, cocaine metabolites, morphine, oxycodone, methadone, amphetamine, & buprenorphine is negative

• Most recent Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol-revised (CIWA-Ar) score is less than or equal to 8

Males only:

-Males agrees agree to sexual abstinence or to use a reliable method of birth control during the study and 3 months following the last dose of the study drug. Acceptable methods of birth control may include: 1) condom with spermicide; 2) diaphragm with spermicide; or 3) female condom with spermicide.

Females only:

-Women of child-bearing potential may participate in the study:

• if they test negative for pregnancy (based on a urine pregnancy test) prior to initiation of treatment

• they must also agree to use either 1 highly effective method of contraception or a combination of 2 effective methods of contraception during the study.

• Highly effective method may include hormonal contraceptives (e.g., combined oral contraceptives, patch, vaginal ring, injectables, and implants); intrauterine device or/ intrauterine system; vasectomy and tubal ligation.

• Effective methods may include barrier methods of contraception (e.g., male condom, female condom, cervical cap, diaphragm, contraceptive sponge)

Women may choose to use a double-barrier method of contraception. Barrier methods without concomitant use of a spermicide are not reliable or an acceptable method. Thus, each barrier method must include use of a spermicide. It should be noted that the use of male and female condoms as a double-barrier method is not considered acceptable due to the high failure rate when these methods are combined.

OR

-Women not of child-bearing potential may participate in the study and include those who have

• spontaneous amenorrhea for at least 12 months, not induced by a medical condition such as anorexia nervosa and not taking medications that induced amenorrhea e.g., oral contraceptives, hormones, gonadotropin-releasing hormone, anti-estrogens, selective estrogen receptor modulators, or chemotherapy; or

• spontaneous amenorrhea for 6 to 12 months and a follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) level greater than 40 mIU/mL; or

• women with a history of hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy must be at least 40 years of age and FSH >40 mIU/mL.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

• Lifetime clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder

• BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2) and weight less than 60 Kg (both must be met)

• BMI >= 40 kg/m(2)

• History of epilepsy and/or seizures

NOTE: individuals who have a history of alcohol withdrawal seizures may be in the study as long as they have been abstinent from alcohol for at least 2 weeks prior to consent and during that period of abstinence, there were no seizure episodes (otherwise, participant remains not eligible).

• Creatinine greater than or equal to 2 mg/dL, AST or ALT > 3 times the upper normal limit, hemoglobin <10.5 g/dl

• Diagnosis of liver cirrhosis

• Clinically significant history or current eating, thyroid, pituitary or adrenal gland disorders or disorder of gastric motility as judged by a study clinician as determined from medical history and/or current clinical screening information

• Clinically significant abnormal 12-Lead ECG

• QTcF > 450 msec for men and > 470 msec for women

• Family history of Long QT Syndrome.

• Patients on weight loss medications within 30 days of dosing

• Patients with a history of bariatric surgery

• Diagnosis of diabetes and currently on medication

• Unable to refrain from or anticipates the use of:

• Any drugs known to be significant inhibitors of cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A enzymes and/or P-glycoprotein (P-gp) including regular consumption of grapefruit or grapefruit juice for 14 days prior to the first dose of study medication.

[medications like acetaminophen (up to 2 g per 24-hour period) and ibuprofen may be permitted during the study]

• Any drugs known to be significant inducers of CYP3A enzymes and/or P-gp, including St. John s Wort, for 28 days prior to the first dose of study medication.

• Any medications that prolong the QTcF, unless the patient has been stable on the medication for at least 3 months and has a QTcF equal to or < 450 msec

• Benzodiazepines. If a participant received a benzodiazepine as part of their treatment during the alcohol detoxification, then s/he can still be enrolled. However, 5 half-lives (for that benzodiazepine) will be required to elapse before the anticipated date of first study drug administration

• Currently taking simvastatin >10 mg per day, atorvastatin >20 mg per day, or lovastatin >20 mg per day.

The doses of these statins in combination products should not exceed these defined dose levels.

• Patients with a history of statin-induced myopathy/rhabdomyolysis.

• Vision is unable to be corrected to (Snellen) 20/100

• Clinically-significant history of motion or car sickness, or history of vestibular disorders

• Any other reason or clinical condition for which the PI or the MAI or other study clinician will consider unsafe for a possible participant to participate in this study