NCT03529955

Brief Summary

With limited treatment options available for dermatomyositis, the investigators hypothesize that apremilast, a phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE-4) inhibitor, is a safe and efficacious add-on treatment in patients with refractory cutaneous dermatomyositis. The study will investigate the efficacy, safety and toxicity of apremilast given at 30 mg twice daily to patients with refractory cutaneous dermatomyositis. Clinical response will be assessed at 1 and 3 months. Patients will also be evaluated for durability of their response for up to 6 months. Treatment will be monitored with frequent clinical visits (0, 1, 3 and 6 months) and blood tests (CBC, CMP, creatine kinase, aldolase). Treatment will be discontinued at disease progression or unacceptable adverse events. Disease progression is defined as 4 points increase in the cutaneous dermatomyositis disease area and severity index (CDASI) score, worsening of muscle disease by manual muscle testing (MMT-8) score and 5 points increase in dermatomyositis life quality index (DLQI). 5 mm skin biopsies from lesional skin will be performed before treatment with apremilast and after 3 months of treatment for gene expression profiling and confirmatory immunohistochemical stains.

Trial Health

87
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
8

participants targeted

Target at below P25 for phase_2

Timeline
Completed

Started Jun 2018

Typical duration for phase_2

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
completed

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

April 24, 2018

Completed
27 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

May 21, 2018

Completed
22 days until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

June 12, 2018

Completed
2.7 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

February 28, 2021

Completed
1 month until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

April 7, 2021

Completed
1.9 years until next milestone

Results Posted

Study results publicly available

March 3, 2023

Completed
Last Updated

March 3, 2023

Status Verified

February 1, 2023

Enrollment Period

2.7 years

First QC Date

April 24, 2018

Results QC Date

July 22, 2022

Last Update Submit

February 3, 2023

Conditions

Keywords

dermatomyositisapremilastrecalcitrant cutaneous disease

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

  • The Primary Endpoint Analysis Would be Overall Response Rate Measured by the Number of Participants Experiencing at Least 4 Points Decrease in CDASI Activity Score at 3 Months.

    Cutaneous dermatomyositis disease area and severity index (CDASI) activity score is a validated tool to measure skin disease activity in dermatomyositis. The overall response rate (ORR) includes partial and complete responses. Complete response is defined by a CDASI activity score of zero. Partial response is defined by a decrease of CDASI activity score of at least 4 points. Calculation is performed as the CDASI activity score at 3 month(s) minus the score at baseline. Missing data will be handled using the last observation carried forward approach (LOCF). CDASI activity score: Units on a scale from 0-100. Higher scores represent worse outcome.

    Data collected at 3 months after baseline visit

Secondary Outcomes (3)

  • 2. The Secondary Endpoint Analysis Would be Safety as Measured by the Number of Participants Experiencing Adverse Events and Serious Adverse Events Occurring During 6 Months of Therapy and 1 Month Follow up.

    7 months

  • An Additional Secondary Endpoint Analysis Would be Durability of Response Measured Participants CDASI Activity Score or Change in Their CDASI Activity Score at 6 Months Compared to 3 Months.

    Data collected at 6 months compared to data collected at 3 months

  • An Additional Secondary Endpoint Analysis Would Assess Quality of Life as Measured at 3 Months Compared to Quality of Life Measured at 6 Months

    Data collected at 3 and 6 months after baseline visit

Other Outcomes (3)

  • An Additional Endpoint Analysis Would Assess the MMT-8 Score in Patients With Muscle Disease as Measured at 3 and 6 Months Compared to Baseline.

    Data collected at 3 and 6 months after baseline visit

  • An Additional Endpoint is to Assess the Gene Expression Profiling and Immunohistochemistry Analysis Change on Skin Biopsies at 3 Months Compared to Baseline.

    Data collected at 3 months after baseline visit

  • An Additional Endpoint is to Assess the Immunohistochemistry Analysis Change on Skin Biopsies at 3 Months Compared to Baseline.

    Data collected at 3 months after baseline visit

Study Arms (1)

Dermatomyositis patients with refractory cutaneous disease

EXPERIMENTAL

Patients with dermatomyositis and refractory skin disease on steroids and one steroid-sparing agent.

Drug: Apremilast 30mg

Interventions

Patients with refractory cutaneous dermatomyositis will be started on apremilast 30 mg twice a day in addition to a stable dose of their treatment regimen (including steroids and steroid sparing agents).

Dermatomyositis patients with refractory cutaneous disease

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years - 75 Years
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • Must understand the risks and the benefits/purpose of the study and provide signed and dated informed consent.
  • Must be 18 years at time of signing the informed consent form.
  • Willing to participate in all required evaluations and procedures in the study including the ability to swallow pills without difficulty.
  • Patients must have a diagnosis of DM based upon the characteristic cutaneous findings proposed by Sontheimer\[6\] and/or a skin biopsy consistent with DM.
  • Patients must be candidate for systemic therapy for their DM skin disease defined by inadequate response to aggressive sun protection along with the use of potent topical corticosteroids and/or immunomodulators.
  • Patients with a diagnosis of dermatomyositis on steroid-sparing agent and/or systemic steroids (maximum dose of prednisone 1mg/Kg) and still having cutaneous disease activity of at least 5 on the CDASI scale.
  • If on immunosuppressive treatments and/or steroids, patients must be on stable doses for at least 4 weeks (28 days).
  • Patients must undergo age appropriate cancer screening.
  • Females of childbearing potential (FCBP) must have a negative pregnancy test at screening (day 0 of the study and every month throughout the study). While on investigational product and for at least 28 days after taking the last dose of investigational product.

You may not qualify if:

  • Increasing or changing dose of topical therapy within 14 days of study day 0 (including but not limited to topical corticosteroids, tacrolimus, pimecrolimus).
  • Increasing or changing systemic steroids dosing within 28 days of study day 0.
  • Increasing or changing dosing for concurrent therapy agents within 28 days or 5 half-lives of the biologic agent, whichever is longer, before study day 0: methotrexate, azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil, hydroxychloroquine, dapsone, leflunomide, cyclosporine, biologic agents (anti-TNFs), IVIG, rituximab.
  • History of any clinically significant (as determined by the investigators) cardiac, endocrinologic, pulmonary, neurologic, psychiatric, hepatic, renal, hematologic, immunologic, or other major uncontrolled disease.
  • Any condition, including the presence of laboratory abnormalities, which places the patient at unacceptable risk if he/she were to participate in the study or confounds the ability to interpret data from the study.
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding.
  • Untreated Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection or active tuberculosis infection as indicated by a positive Purified Protein Derivative (PPD) skin test or T-spot.
  • Any condition, including the presence of laboratory abnormalities that places the patient at unacceptable risk if he/she were to participate in the study or confounds the ability to interpret data from the study.
  • Patients with acute dermatomyositis onset and rapid progression of muscle disease or significant systemic involvement including pulmonary diseases associated with DM.
  • Prior major surgery or major life-threatening medical illness within 2 weeks.
  • Inflammatory bowel disease, malabsorption or any other gastrointestinal motility disorders that limit the absorption of the study drug.
  • Active hepatitis B or C infection with detectible viral nucleic acid in the blood or known Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positivity.
  • Prior history of suicide attempt at any time in the patient's lifetime prior to screening or randomization, or major psychiatric illness requiring hospitalization within the last 3 years.
  • Active substance abuse or a history of substance abuse within 6 months prior to screening.
  • Use of any investigational drug within 4 weeks prior to randomization, or 5 pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic half-lives, if known (whichever is longer).
  • +5 more criteria

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

Tulane University

New Orleans, Louisiana, 70112, United States

Location

Related Publications (17)

  • Thompson C, Piguet V, Choy E. The pathogenesis of dermatomyositis. Br J Dermatol. 2018 Dec;179(6):1256-1262. doi: 10.1111/bjd.15607. Epub 2017 May 24.

    PMID: 28542733BACKGROUND
  • Giris M, Durmus H, Yetimler B, Tasli H, Parman Y, Tuzun E. Elevated IL-4 and IFN-gamma Levels in Muscle Tissue of Patients with Dermatomyositis. In Vivo. 2017 Jul-Aug;31(4):657-660. doi: 10.21873/invivo.11108.

    PMID: 28652434BACKGROUND
  • Oda K, Kotani T, Takeuchi T, Ishida T, Shoda T, Isoda K, Yoshida S, Nishimura Y, Makino S. Chemokine profiles of interstitial pneumonia in patients with dermatomyositis: a case control study. Sci Rep. 2017 May 9;7(1):1635. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-01685-5.

    PMID: 28487565BACKGROUND
  • Maier C, Ramming A, Bergmann C, Weinkam R, Kittan N, Schett G, Distler JHW, Beyer C. Inhibition of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) reduces dermal fibrosis by interfering with the release of interleukin-6 from M2 macrophages. Ann Rheum Dis. 2017 Jun;76(6):1133-1141. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-210189. Epub 2017 Feb 16.

    PMID: 28209630BACKGROUND
  • Hatemi G, Melikoglu M, Tunc R, Korkmaz C, Turgut Ozturk B, Mat C, Merkel PA, Calamia KT, Liu Z, Pineda L, Stevens RM, Yazici H, Yazici Y. Apremilast for Behcet's syndrome--a phase 2, placebo-controlled study. N Engl J Med. 2015 Apr 16;372(16):1510-8. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1408684.

    PMID: 25875256BACKGROUND
  • Sontheimer RD. Dermatomyositis: an overview of recent progress with emphasis on dermatologic aspects. Dermatol Clin. 2002 Jul;20(3):387-408. doi: 10.1016/s0733-8635(02)00021-9.

    PMID: 12170874BACKGROUND
  • Narla A, Dutt S, McAuley JR, Al-Shahrour F, Hurst S, McConkey M, Neuberg D, Ebert BL. Dexamethasone and lenalidomide have distinct functional effects on erythropoiesis. Blood. 2011 Aug 25;118(8):2296-304. doi: 10.1182/blood-2010-11-318543. Epub 2011 Apr 28.

    PMID: 21527522BACKGROUND
  • Fiskus W, Saba N, Shen M, Ghias M, Liu J, Gupta SD, Chauhan L, Rao R, Gunewardena S, Schorno K, Austin CP, Maddocks K, Byrd J, Melnick A, Huang P, Wiestner A, Bhalla KN. Auranofin induces lethal oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress and exerts potent preclinical activity against chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Cancer Res. 2014 May 1;74(9):2520-32. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-13-2033. Epub 2014 Mar 5.

    PMID: 24599128BACKGROUND
  • Rosenwald A, Chuang EY, Davis RE, Wiestner A, Alizadeh AA, Arthur DC, Mitchell JB, Marti GE, Fowler DH, Wilson WH, Staudt LM. Fludarabine treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia induces a p53-dependent gene expression response. Blood. 2004 Sep 1;104(5):1428-34. doi: 10.1182/blood-2003-09-3236. Epub 2004 May 11.

    PMID: 15138159BACKGROUND
  • Li B, Dewey CN. RSEM: accurate transcript quantification from RNA-Seq data with or without a reference genome. BMC Bioinformatics. 2011 Aug 4;12:323. doi: 10.1186/1471-2105-12-323.

    PMID: 21816040BACKGROUND
  • Leng N, Dawson JA, Thomson JA, Ruotti V, Rissman AI, Smits BM, Haag JD, Gould MN, Stewart RM, Kendziorski C. EBSeq: an empirical Bayes hierarchical model for inference in RNA-seq experiments. Bioinformatics. 2013 Apr 15;29(8):1035-43. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btt087. Epub 2013 Feb 21.

    PMID: 23428641BACKGROUND
  • Saba NS, Liu D, Herman SE, Underbayev C, Tian X, Behrend D, Weniger MA, Skarzynski M, Gyamfi J, Fontan L, Melnick A, Grant C, Roschewski M, Navarro A, Bea S, Pittaluga S, Dunleavy K, Wilson WH, Wiestner A. Pathogenic role of B-cell receptor signaling and canonical NF-kappaB activation in mantle cell lymphoma. Blood. 2016 Jul 7;128(1):82-92. doi: 10.1182/blood-2015-11-681460. Epub 2016 Apr 28.

    PMID: 27127301BACKGROUND
  • Saba NS, Wong DH, Tanios G, Iyer JR, Lobelle-Rich P, Dadashian EL, Liu D, Fontan L, Flemington EK, Nichols CM, Underbayev C, Safah H, Melnick A, Wiestner A, Herman SEM. MALT1 Inhibition Is Efficacious in Both Naive and Ibrutinib-Resistant Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Cancer Res. 2017 Dec 15;77(24):7038-7048. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-2485. Epub 2017 Oct 9.

    PMID: 28993409BACKGROUND
  • Akbulut S, Yilmaz M, Yilmaz S. Graft-versus-host disease after liver transplantation: a comprehensive literature review. World J Gastroenterol. 2012 Oct 7;18(37):5240-8. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v18.i37.5240.

    PMID: 23066319BACKGROUND
  • Finlay AY, Khan GK. Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI)--a simple practical measure for routine clinical use. Clin Exp Dermatol. 1994 May;19(3):210-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2230.1994.tb01167.x.

    PMID: 8033378BACKGROUND
  • Rider LG, Werth VP, Huber AM, Alexanderson H, Rao AP, Ruperto N, Herbelin L, Barohn R, Isenberg D, Miller FW. Measures of adult and juvenile dermatomyositis, polymyositis, and inclusion body myositis: Physician and Patient/Parent Global Activity, Manual Muscle Testing (MMT), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ)/Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (C-HAQ), Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale (CMAS), Myositis Disease Activity Assessment Tool (MDAAT), Disease Activity Score (DAS), Short Form 36 (SF-36), Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), physician global damage, Myositis Damage Index (MDI), Quantitative Muscle Testing (QMT), Myositis Functional Index-2 (FI-2), Myositis Activities Profile (MAP), Inclusion Body Myositis Functional Rating Scale (IBMFRS), Cutaneous Dermatomyositis Disease Area and Severity Index (CDASI), Cutaneous Assessment Tool (CAT), Dermatomyositis Skin Severity Index (DSSI), Skindex, and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2011 Nov;63 Suppl 11(0 11):S118-57. doi: 10.1002/acr.20532. No abstract available.

    PMID: 22588740BACKGROUND
  • Bitar C, Ninh T, Brag K, Foutouhi S, Radosta S, Meyers J, Baddoo M, Liu D, Stumpf B, Harms PW, Saba NS, Boh E. Apremilast in Recalcitrant Cutaneous Dermatomyositis: A Nonrandomized Controlled Trial. JAMA Dermatol. 2022 Dec 1;158(12):1357-1366. doi: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2022.3917.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Dermatomyositis

Interventions

apremilast

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

PolymyositisMyositisMuscular DiseasesMusculoskeletal DiseasesNeuromuscular DiseasesNervous System DiseasesConnective Tissue DiseasesSkin and Connective Tissue DiseasesSkin Diseases

Results Point of Contact

Title
Carole Bitar, MD, FAAD
Organization
Tulane University

Study Officials

  • Carole Bitar, MD

    Tulane University

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

PI is Sponsor Employee
Yes

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
phase 2
Allocation
NA
Masking
NONE
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
SINGLE GROUP
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

April 24, 2018

First Posted

May 21, 2018

Study Start

June 12, 2018

Primary Completion

February 28, 2021

Study Completion

April 7, 2021

Last Updated

March 3, 2023

Results First Posted

March 3, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-02

Data Sharing

IPD Sharing
Will share

Data and research resources generated by this study will be made available to the research community and to the public at large. This strategy includes, but not limited to, presentations (poster or oral) at local, national, and international meetings; published abstracts, and journal articles (peer reviewed). Contact information will be provided in publications for direct inquiries of researchers. Data generated from sequencing and gene expression profiling will be deposited into the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), NCBI, to be accessible by general public. The study protocol will be shared with other researchers on the clinical trial.gov website. No identified personal patient informations will be shared.

Shared Documents
STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP

Locations