UnknownPhase 2

A Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy, Tolerability, and Safety of a Fixed Dose Combination of Spironolactone, Pioglitazone & Metformin (SPIOMET) in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

Austria, Denmark, Italy364 participantsStarted 2022-05-24

Plain-language summary

This is a multi-centre, multi-national, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, parallel, randomised Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of a fixed dose combination of Spironolactone, Pioglitazone and Metformin (SPIOMET) for adolescent girls and young adult women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Study description: Currently, there is no European Medicines Agency /U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapy for polycystic ovary syndrome in adolescent girls and young adult women. Oral contraceptives (OCs) are prescribed off-label to approximately 98% of AYAs with PCOS, including those without pregnancy risk. OCs alleviate key symptoms by inducing a pharmacological combination of anovulatory subfertility, regular pseudo-menses, and extreme elevations of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), but OCs do not revert the underlying pathophysiology, and patients remain at risk for post-treatment subfertility and possibly, for lifelong co-morbidities. Given the key role of hepato-visceral fat excess in the pathogenesis of PCOS, the prime aim of the treatment should be to achieve a preferential loss of central fat, which should in turn normalise the entire PCOS phenotype. Recent evidence disclosed that a treatment consisting of a fixed low-dose combination of two insulin sensitisers \[pioglitazone (PIO) and metformin (MET), with different modes of action\], and one mixed anti-androgen and anti-mineralocorticoid (spironolactone), was superior to an OC in normalising the PCOS phenotype, including ovulation rates and hepato-visceral fat. The study's main goals are to assess the efficacy, tolerability and safety of a new treatment (SPIOMET) for adolescent girls and young adult women with polycistic ovarian syndrome; the comparison (in this order) of each SPIOMET, spironolactone and pioglitazone (SPIO) and PIO over placebo; and in addition, the comparison of SPIOMET over PIO and over SPIO (in this order). Primary Objective: To test the efficacy of SPIOMET in normalising ovulation rate in adolescents and young adult women with PCOS. Secondary Objectives: To test the efficacy of SPIOMET in normalising the endocrine-metabolic status, to describe the drug safety profile and to assess the adherence and subjective acceptability, as well as the quality of life of the participating subjects.

Who can participate

Age range12 Years – 23 Years

SexFEMALE

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Exclusion criteria

✕. Gynaecological age of 2 years or more;
✕. Clinical androgen excess, as defined by the presence of hirsutism (modified Ferriman-Gallwey score ≥ 4) (17,98) and/or inflammatory acne (Leeds scale) unresponsive to medications (3,95,99). The scarce normative data existing in adolescents suggest that an adult level of hirsutism is reached around 2 years after menarche (100);
✕. Biochemical androgen excess, as defined by increased total testosterone (≥50 ng/dL), and/or a FAI higher than 3.5 \[FAI, total testosterone (nmol/L) x 100/SHBG (nmol/L)\], in the follicular phase of the cycle (days 3-7) or after 2 months of amenorrhea (3,100,101); Measurements of total testosterone and/or FAI are the most recommended assessments to screen for hyperandrogenaemia (3,19,95,102). Serum testosterone attains adult levels shortly after menarche; thus, an elevation of serum testosterone concentrations and/or FAI above adult norms and assessed in reliable reference laboratories constitutes biochemical evidence of hyperandrogenism (3,19,95,100). It is accepted that this upper limit can be set at 45 ng/dL for testosterone and at 3.5 for FAI (3,95,100,101,102,103). Direct free testosterone assays, such as radiometric or enzyme-linked assays, preferably should not be used in the assessment of biochemical hyperandrogenism, as they demonstrate poor sensitivity, accuracy and precision (17);
✕. Menstrual irregularity, as defined by ≤ 8 menses per year corresponding to an average inter-menstrual time of ≥45 days (3,95,100); Most adolescents establish a menstrual interval of 20-45 days within the first 2 years after menarche (3,95). Three years after menarche, the 95th percentile for cycle length is 43.6 days (104); thus, cycles longer than 45 days (\<8 periods/year) at or beyond this gynaecological age are considered abnormal and are evidence of oligo-anovulation;

What they're measuring

On-treatment ovulation rate.

Timeframe: Following end of each two 12-week on-treatment periods (month 0-3 and month 9-12)

Post-treatment ovulation rate.

Timeframe: Following the end of post-treatment period (month 12-15)

Trial details

NCT IDNCT05394142

SponsorFundació Sant Joan de Déu

Sponsor typeOTHER

Study typeINTERVENTIONAL

Primary completion2025-04

Contact for this trial

Rita Malpique, PhD

+34936 00 97 51 rita.malpique@sjd.es

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