Trial of Dronabinol Adjunctive Treatment of Agitation in Alzheimer's Disease

NCT ID: NCT02792257

Last Updated: 2025-05-09

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: PHASE2
• Total Enrollment: 84 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2017-03-01
• Study Completion Date: 2024-05-31

Brief Summary

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease of aging. Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in AD are a major cause of burden to patients, caregivers, and society and are near-universal at some point in the AD course. One of the most troubling of these symptoms is agitation (Agit-AD), typified by a variety of problem behaviors including combativeness, yelling, pacing, lack of cooperation with care, insomnia, and restlessness. There is a great need for better interventions that target Agit-AD, a major source of patient disability as well as caregiver burden and stress, particularly in the case of moderate to severe agitation. This pilot trial could open the door to "re-purposing" Dronabinol (Marinol®) as a novel and safe treatment for Agit-AD with significant public health impact.

Detailed Description

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease of aging, affecting an estimated 5.2 million Americans and predicted to increase to 13.8 million by 2050. AD affects both cognition and emotion. Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in AD are a major cause of burden to patients, caregivers, and society and are near-universal at some point in the AD course with > 97% of AD patients having at least one symptom reported on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI).

One of the most troubling of these symptoms is agitation (Agit-AD), typified by a variety of problem behaviors including combativeness, yelling, pacing, lack of cooperation with care, insomnia, and restlessness. In community-based samples, Agit-AD is common. Agit-AD is associated with greater caregiver burden and shorter time to institutionalization, and there is a particularly acute need for interventions for severe Agit-AD in advanced dementia.

While there are currently no FDA approved medications for Agit-AD, psychotropic medications are widely prescribed "off-label" to treat Agit-AD. The most commonly used classes of medications prescribed for "off-label" treatment are antipsychotics and antidepressants. The evidence to date for efficacy remains mixed. Antipsychotics appear to have some degree of efficacy, but the effects are not highly replicable and it's use is associated with increased mortality in elderly patients with dementia. Antidepressants (particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, (SSRI)s) appear to have fewer and less severe adverse effects compared to antipsychotics, as well as no known mortality risks, but are not without limitation. Therefore, exploration of alternative treatments for Agit-AD, particularly severe cases, is timely and warranted.

Dronabinol (Marinol®) is FDA-approved for the treatment of anorexia/weight loss in AIDS and for nausea/emesis associated with chemotherapy, which is now being used off-label for Agit-AD. Dronabinol is a synthetic oral formulation of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant that acts as a partial agonist at the Type 1 (CB1) and Type 2 (CB2) endocannabinoid receptors. This pharmacology is appropriate for targeting Agit-AD because CB1 receptor agonism can produce anxiolytic and antidepressant effects and CB2 receptor agonism can be anti-inflammatory.

The mechanism by which dronabinol exerts its effects on agitation and aggression in patients with dementia may occur through its action at the CB1 and/or the CB2 receptor. Agonists at the CB1 receptor in the brain improve anxiety and depression in humans as well as animal models. Dronabinol is an effective agonist at the CB1 receptor, which is generally specific to neurons and localized predominantly on the presynaptic terminal where it inhibits glutamatergic, dopaminergic and other neurotransmitter release. The CB1 receptor effects has been observed to mediate the observed anxiolytic and antidepressant effects of THC. Dronabinol is also an agonist at CB2, a potent anti-inflammatory receptor localized on activated microglia. Patients with AD have increased central and peripheral inflammation, likely as a result of the accumulation of beta-amyloid. Increased inflammation may have a number of behavioral effects that could drive the agitation and aggression in dementia patients. Dronabinol's effects at the CB2 receptor therefore could also produce changes in behavior in AD patients by reducing inflammation.

Conditions

Alzheimer's Disease

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: QUADRUPLE

Study Groups

Dronabinol

Study medication will be administered twice daily. Capsules of dronabinol will contain 2.5 mg per dose (5mg daily) during Week 1, then increase to 5 mg per dose (10mg daily) for Weeks 2 and 3.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Dronabinol (Marinol®)

Intervention Type: DRUG

5mg - 10mg daily dose

Placebo

Placebo medication will be administered twice daily.

Group Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Placebo

Intervention Type: DRUG

Daily dose

Interventions

Dronabinol (Marinol®)

5mg - 10mg daily dose

Intervention Type: DRUG

Placebo

Daily dose

Intervention Type: DRUG

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. Diagnosis of Dementia due to AD

2. Presence of Agit-AD as defined by the provisional criteria from the International Psychogeriatric Association (IPA). The definition requires the presence of cognitive impairment, evidence of emotional distress, one of three observable types of behavior (excessive motor activity, verbal aggression, physical aggression), requires that the behavior cause excess disability, and notes that the behaviors cannot be solely attributable to another disorder such as psychiatric illness, medical illness, or effects of substance use.

3. Clinically significant severity of agitation defined by NPI-C Agitation or NPI-C Aggression > 4.

4. Able to give informed consent, or deemed to lack such capacity by clinical team and legally authorized representative consents.

5. Must be fluent in English and/or Spanish (includes reading, writing, and speech)

6. Must be admitted to clinical sites associated with McLean Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, and Miami Jewish Health Services as an inpatient/long term care resident during the study duration (3 weeks) OR be able to travel to these locations to enroll as an outpatient.

7. Must be 60-95 years old

8. Must begin enrollment in study within one week of being determined eligible

Exclusion Criteria

1. Serious or unstable medical illness, including cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, respiratory, endocrine, neurologic or hematologic disease, which might confound assessment of safety outcomes.

2. Seizure disorder

3. Baseline delirium as determined by Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) -5 criteria

4. Current use of lithium

5. Inability to swallow a pill

• Minimum Eligible Age: 60 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 95 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Mclean Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Miami Jewish Health

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Tufts Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Johns Hopkins University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Paul Rosenberg

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Johns Hopkins University

Brent Forester

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Tufts Medical Center

Locations

Miami Jewish Health

Miami, Florida, United States

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

McLean Hospital

Belmont, Massachusetts, United States

Tufts Medical Center

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

North Shore Medical Center

Salem, Massachusetts, United States

Countries

United States

References

Cohen LM, Ash E, Outen JD, Vandrey R, Amjad H, Agronin M, Burhanullah MH, Walsh P, Wilkins JM, Leoutsakos JM, Nowrangi MA, Harper D, Rosenberg PB, Forester BP. Study rationale and baseline data for pilot trial of dronabinol adjunctive treatment of agitation in Alzheimer's dementia (THC-AD). Int Psychogeriatr. 2024 Dec;36(12):1245-1250. doi: 10.1017/S1041610221001150. Epub 2021 Oct 11.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 34629131 (View on PubMed)

Bosnjak Kuharic D, Markovic D, Brkovic T, Jeric Kegalj M, Rubic Z, Vuica Vukasovic A, Jeroncic A, Puljak L. Cannabinoids for the treatment of dementia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2021 Sep 17;9(9):CD012820. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012820.pub2.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 34532852 (View on PubMed)

Solomon HV, Greenstein AP, DeLisi LE. Cannabis Use in Older Adults: A Perspective. Harv Rev Psychiatry. 2021 May-Jun 01;29(3):225-233. doi: 10.1097/HRP.0000000000000289.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 33660625 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

R01AG050515

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

IRB00052955

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id