Developing Adaptive Interventions for Cocaine Cessation and Relapse Prevention

NCT ID: NCT02896712

Last Updated: 2023-02-08

Study Results

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

PHASE2

Total Enrollment

118 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2016-11-18

Study Completion Date

2021-09-13

Brief Summary

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First, the investigators will determine whether Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in combination with Contingency Management increases initial treatment response rates.

Second, for patients who do not respond to initial treatment, the investigators will examine whether dopamine-targeted pharmacotherapy is an effective augmentation strategy.

Third, for patients who respond to initial treatment, the investigators will assess the relative benefit of continued treatment with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in combination with Contingency Management, as compared to Drug Counseling in combination with Contingency Management, to prevent relapse.

Detailed Description

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Drug addiction is a chronic, devastating, but treatable disorder, for which there exists a growing armamentarium of evidence-based interventions, including pharmacotherapies and psychotherapies. A core principle of drug addiction treatment, however, states that no single treatment is appropriate for everyone; rather, treatments need to be adjusted based on patient characteristics and response in order to be maximally effective. Ideally, clinicians would identify a sequence of interventions that works best across different stages of addiction treatment, from abstinence initiation to relapse prevention. Adaptive treatment interventions have been used successfully to inform this sequential clinical decision-making process. For cocaine use disorders (CUD), the most potent intervention currently available for initiating abstinence is behavior therapy using contingency management (CM) procedures. Intensive CM has been shown to produce initial cocaine abstinence rates of 40%, unmatched by all other forms of behavioral or pharmacological treatment, making it a prototypical first-line therapy for CUD. Importantly, achievement of initial abstinence predicts future abstinence. For the clinician, these research findings translate into a straightforward question: Can the investigators drive CM response rates even higher with targeted adjunctive interventions?

The proposed sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial (SMART) will provide the data needed to answer this question. First, the investigators will determine whether Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in combination with CM increases initial treatment response rates. The investigators hypothesize that four weeks of treatment with ACT+CM will produce higher abstinence rates than initial treatment combining standard Drug Counseling with CM (DC+CM). The hypothesized synergism of ACT+CM on primary treatment mechanisms of experiential avoidance and reward sensitivity, respectively, will be examined. Second, for patients who do not respond to initial treatment, the investigators will examine whether dopamine-targeted pharmacotherapy is an effective augmentation strategy. Specifically, the investigators hypothesize that continued ACT+CM treatment with modafinil augmentation will be most effective in promoting abstinence relative to treatment combinations involving continued DC and/or placebo. Third, for patients who respond to initial treatment, the investigators will assess the relative benefit of continued treatment with ACT+CM, as compared to DC+CM, to prevent relapse. ACT emphasizes goal-directed actions based on values that are intrinsically motivating, and is thereby expected to be a more effective intervention for extending the duration of abstinence following initial treatment with intensive CM.

Conditions

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Cocaine-Related Disorders

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

QUADRUPLE

Participants Caregivers Investigators Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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ACT plus CM

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy along with Contingency Management for cocaine use will be administered to help decrease experiential avoidance while increasing acceptance and willingness to experience unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and physical symptoms.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

ACT will assist cocaine patients to notice internal cravings and triggers, abandon attempts to manage these triggers via active avoidance, suppression or other control-based strategies, and to make commitments to engage in behaviors consistent with chosen values or goals. ACT encourages clients to experience thoughts and feelings from an observer perspective, and helps clients not to believe distressing thoughts and feelings as if those thoughts and feelings are literally true and in need of action. ACT treatment will be based on the ACT therapy manual developed and tested previously.

Contingency Management (CM)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the same high-magnitude CM schedule shown previously to be feasible and effective in facilitating initial cocaine abstinence. Subjects will earn vouchers for cocaine-negative urine samples collected at scheduled clinic visits each week. Under an escalating reinforcement schedule, voucher values will begin at $15 and increase by $10 for each consecutive negative urine. Bonus vouchers of $10 will be given for three consecutive negative urines. Provision of a cocaine-positive urine or failure to provide a scheduled sample will result in no vouchers earned and will reset the schedule to the initial value of $15.

ACT plus CM, with Placebo

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy along with Contingency Management for cocaine use will be administered and augmented with a placebo capsule during Phase 2 (weeks 5-12).

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

ACT will assist cocaine patients to notice internal cravings and triggers, abandon attempts to manage these triggers via active avoidance, suppression or other control-based strategies, and to make commitments to engage in behaviors consistent with chosen values or goals. ACT encourages clients to experience thoughts and feelings from an observer perspective, and helps clients not to believe distressing thoughts and feelings as if those thoughts and feelings are literally true and in need of action. ACT treatment will be based on the ACT therapy manual developed and tested previously.

Contingency Management (CM)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the same high-magnitude CM schedule shown previously to be feasible and effective in facilitating initial cocaine abstinence. Subjects will earn vouchers for cocaine-negative urine samples collected at scheduled clinic visits each week. Under an escalating reinforcement schedule, voucher values will begin at $15 and increase by $10 for each consecutive negative urine. Bonus vouchers of $10 will be given for three consecutive negative urines. Provision of a cocaine-positive urine or failure to provide a scheduled sample will result in no vouchers earned and will reset the schedule to the initial value of $15.

Placebo

Intervention Type DRUG

The placebo capsule will be filled with corn starch and riboflavin.

ACT plus CM, with Modafinil

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy along with Contingency Management for cocaine use will be administered and augmented with a Modafinil (300mg) capsule during Phase 2 (weeks 5-12).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

ACT will assist cocaine patients to notice internal cravings and triggers, abandon attempts to manage these triggers via active avoidance, suppression or other control-based strategies, and to make commitments to engage in behaviors consistent with chosen values or goals. ACT encourages clients to experience thoughts and feelings from an observer perspective, and helps clients not to believe distressing thoughts and feelings as if those thoughts and feelings are literally true and in need of action. ACT treatment will be based on the ACT therapy manual developed and tested previously.

Contingency Management (CM)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the same high-magnitude CM schedule shown previously to be feasible and effective in facilitating initial cocaine abstinence. Subjects will earn vouchers for cocaine-negative urine samples collected at scheduled clinic visits each week. Under an escalating reinforcement schedule, voucher values will begin at $15 and increase by $10 for each consecutive negative urine. Bonus vouchers of $10 will be given for three consecutive negative urines. Provision of a cocaine-positive urine or failure to provide a scheduled sample will result in no vouchers earned and will reset the schedule to the initial value of $15.

Modafinil

Intervention Type DRUG

Modafinil capsules will start at 200 mg (day 1) and increase to the fixed dose of 300 mg (day 2) and will also contain riboflavin.

DC plus CM

Drug Counseling and Contingency Management for cocaine use will be administered to help educate patients about important concepts in addiction recovery.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Drug Counseling (DC)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the manual-guided individual DC modeled after the NIDA Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study and used as the active control therapy in previous studies. DC approximates clinical practice as it is considered the most common type of evidence-based treatment in the community for patients actively using cocaine.

Contingency Management (CM)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the same high-magnitude CM schedule shown previously to be feasible and effective in facilitating initial cocaine abstinence. Subjects will earn vouchers for cocaine-negative urine samples collected at scheduled clinic visits each week. Under an escalating reinforcement schedule, voucher values will begin at $15 and increase by $10 for each consecutive negative urine. Bonus vouchers of $10 will be given for three consecutive negative urines. Provision of a cocaine-positive urine or failure to provide a scheduled sample will result in no vouchers earned and will reset the schedule to the initial value of $15.

DC plus CM, with Placebo

Drug Counseling and Contingency Management for cocaine use will be administered and augmented with a placebo capsule during Phase 2 (weeks 5-12).

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Drug Counseling (DC)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the manual-guided individual DC modeled after the NIDA Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study and used as the active control therapy in previous studies. DC approximates clinical practice as it is considered the most common type of evidence-based treatment in the community for patients actively using cocaine.

Contingency Management (CM)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the same high-magnitude CM schedule shown previously to be feasible and effective in facilitating initial cocaine abstinence. Subjects will earn vouchers for cocaine-negative urine samples collected at scheduled clinic visits each week. Under an escalating reinforcement schedule, voucher values will begin at $15 and increase by $10 for each consecutive negative urine. Bonus vouchers of $10 will be given for three consecutive negative urines. Provision of a cocaine-positive urine or failure to provide a scheduled sample will result in no vouchers earned and will reset the schedule to the initial value of $15.

Placebo

Intervention Type DRUG

The placebo capsule will be filled with corn starch and riboflavin.

DC plus CM, with Modafinil

Drug Counseling and Contingency Management for cocaine use will be administered and augmented with a Modafinil (300mg) capsule during Phase 2 (weeks 5-12).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Drug Counseling (DC)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the manual-guided individual DC modeled after the NIDA Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study and used as the active control therapy in previous studies. DC approximates clinical practice as it is considered the most common type of evidence-based treatment in the community for patients actively using cocaine.

Contingency Management (CM)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The investigators will use the same high-magnitude CM schedule shown previously to be feasible and effective in facilitating initial cocaine abstinence. Subjects will earn vouchers for cocaine-negative urine samples collected at scheduled clinic visits each week. Under an escalating reinforcement schedule, voucher values will begin at $15 and increase by $10 for each consecutive negative urine. Bonus vouchers of $10 will be given for three consecutive negative urines. Provision of a cocaine-positive urine or failure to provide a scheduled sample will result in no vouchers earned and will reset the schedule to the initial value of $15.

Modafinil

Intervention Type DRUG

Modafinil capsules will start at 200 mg (day 1) and increase to the fixed dose of 300 mg (day 2) and will also contain riboflavin.

Interventions

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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT will assist cocaine patients to notice internal cravings and triggers, abandon attempts to manage these triggers via active avoidance, suppression or other control-based strategies, and to make commitments to engage in behaviors consistent with chosen values or goals. ACT encourages clients to experience thoughts and feelings from an observer perspective, and helps clients not to believe distressing thoughts and feelings as if those thoughts and feelings are literally true and in need of action. ACT treatment will be based on the ACT therapy manual developed and tested previously.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Drug Counseling (DC)

The investigators will use the manual-guided individual DC modeled after the NIDA Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study and used as the active control therapy in previous studies. DC approximates clinical practice as it is considered the most common type of evidence-based treatment in the community for patients actively using cocaine.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Contingency Management (CM)

The investigators will use the same high-magnitude CM schedule shown previously to be feasible and effective in facilitating initial cocaine abstinence. Subjects will earn vouchers for cocaine-negative urine samples collected at scheduled clinic visits each week. Under an escalating reinforcement schedule, voucher values will begin at $15 and increase by $10 for each consecutive negative urine. Bonus vouchers of $10 will be given for three consecutive negative urines. Provision of a cocaine-positive urine or failure to provide a scheduled sample will result in no vouchers earned and will reset the schedule to the initial value of $15.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Placebo

The placebo capsule will be filled with corn starch and riboflavin.

Intervention Type DRUG

Modafinil

Modafinil capsules will start at 200 mg (day 1) and increase to the fixed dose of 300 mg (day 2) and will also contain riboflavin.

Intervention Type DRUG

Other Intervention Names

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ACT DC CM Corn Starch Provigil

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. be between 18 and 60 years of age
2. meet DSM-5 criteria for current cocaine use disorder of at least moderate severity (≥ 4 symptoms)
3. have at least 1 positive urine BE specimen (≥ 150 ng/mL) during intake
4. be in acceptable health on the basis of interview, medical history and physical exam
5. agree to use an acceptable method of birth control during study participation and for one month after discontinuation of the study medication. Non-hormonal methods of contraception are recommended, including barrier contraceptives (e.g., diaphragm, cervical cap, male condom) or intrauterine device (IUD). Steroid contraceptives if used with non-hormonal methods are acceptable.
6. be able to understand the consent form and provide written informed consent
7. be able to provide the names of at least 2 persons who can generally locate their whereabouts.

Exclusion Criteria

1. current DSM-5 diagnosis for substance use disorder (of at least moderate severity) other than cocaine, marijuana, or nicotine
2. have a DSM-5 axis I psychiatric disorder or neurological disease or disorder requiring ongoing treatment and/or making study participation unsafe (e.g., psychosis, dementia).
3. significant current suicidal or homicidal ideation
4. medical conditions contraindicating modafinil pharmacotherapy (e.g., major cardiovascular disease, severe liver disease based on Child-Pugh score of B or C, serious kidney problems)
5. taking medications that could adversely interact with modafinil (e.g., propranolol, phenytoin, warfarin, diazepam)
6. having conditions of probation or parole requiring reports of drug use to officers of the court
7. impending incarceration
8. pregnant or nursing for female patients
9. inability to read, write, or speak English
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

60 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Joy Schmitz

Professor and CNRA Director

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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UTHealth Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction

Houston, Texas, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Nunez C, Yoon JH, de Dios C, Dang V, Lane SD, Vincent JN, Schmitz JM, Wardle MC. Undervaluing nondrug rewards or overvaluing cocaine? Cocaine demand relates to cocaine use severity more strongly than anhedonia in individuals with cocaine use disorder. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2025 Feb;33(1):91-99. doi: 10.1037/pha0000744. Epub 2024 Aug 29.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 39207396 (View on PubMed)

Webber HE, Yoon JH, de Dios C, Suchting R, Dang V, Versace F, Green CE, Wardle MC, Lane SD, Schmitz JM. Assessing cocaine motivational value: Comparison of brain reactivity bias toward cocaine cues and cocaine demand. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2023 Aug;31(4):861-867. doi: 10.1037/pha0000622. Epub 2022 Dec 8.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 36480395 (View on PubMed)

Lathan EC, Hong JH, Heads AM, Borgogna NC, Schmitz JM. Prevalence and Correlates of Sex Selling and Sex Purchasing among Adults Seeking Treatment for Cocaine Use Disorder. Subst Use Misuse. 2021;56(14):2229-2241. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2021.1981391. Epub 2021 Sep 24.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 34559026 (View on PubMed)

Webber HE, de Dios C, Wardle MC, Suchting R, Green CE, Schmitz JM, Lane SD, Versace F. Electrophysiological responses to emotional and cocaine cues reveal individual neuroaffective profiles in cocaine users. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2022 Oct;30(5):514-524. doi: 10.1037/pha0000450. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 33630644 (View on PubMed)

Yoon JH, Suchting R, McKay SA, San Miguel GG, Vujanovic AA, Stotts AL, Lane SD, Vincent JN, Weaver MF, Lin A, Schmitz JM. Baseline cocaine demand predicts contingency management treatment outcomes for cocaine-use disorder. Psychol Addict Behav. 2020 Feb;34(1):164-174. doi: 10.1037/adb0000475. Epub 2019 Jun 24.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 31233323 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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HSC-MS-15-0595

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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