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Progesterone Treatment for Cocaine-dependent Women: A Pilot Study

Progesterone Treatment for Cocaine-dependent Women: A Pilot Study

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 2Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT00632099
Acronym
PROG
Enrollment
21
Registered
2008-03-10
Start date
2008-02-29
Completion date
2012-09-30
Last updated
2014-05-12

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Cocaine Dependence

Keywords

cocaine, treatment, progesterone

Brief summary

The purpose of this pilot treatment trial is to evaluate the efficacy of oral micronized PROG in cocaine-dependent women. Since we have shown (Evans & Foltin, 2006) that oral micronized PROG attenuates the positive subjective effects of smoked cocaine in females, but not in males, and we have preliminary data indicating that oral micronized PROG also reduces smoked cocaine self-administration in the laboratory, PROG appears to be an ideal potential candidate medication to evaluate in cocaine-dependent women. Prior to randomization to treatment, women will reside inpatient for one week to ensure cocaine abstinence since one of the primary outcome measures will be time to cocaine relapse.

Detailed description

Primary Aims: The primary aims will be directed at treatment efficacy. Relatively unique to cocaine treatment trials, one of the principal outcome measures will be time to cocaine relapse. We hypothesize that maintenance on PROG will increase the time to cocaine relapse compared to maintenance on placebo (PBO). Another cocaine-related efficacy endpoint will be the proportion of patients who achieve at least 2 consecutive weeks of cocaine abstinence (based on urine toxicology results) during the double-blind treatment phase. Lastly, the proportion of cocaine-negative urines collected throughout the treatment trial will be measured. We hypothesize that women in the PROG group will show a greater reduction in cocaine use compared to those in the PBO group. Secondary Aims: 1) Determine if response to laboratory stressors will predict treatment outcome. We hypothesize that those women with the greatest stress response will do worse in treatment and that maintenance on PROG will reduce stress/anxiety and thereby improve treatment outcome. 2) Determine if treatment retention is better in the PROG group compared to the PBO group and determine if maintenance on PROG improves overall functioning compared to maintenance on PBO based on the Clinical Global Inventory (CGI). We hypothesize that women in the PROG group will have better treatment retention and improvement in CGI scores compared to women in the PBO group. Tertiary Aims: To conduct exploratory analyses to determine whether 1) trauma history is related to treatment outcomes and 2) improvements in treatment outcome measures are related to decreases in HIV high-risk behaviors.

Interventions

Oral micronized progesterone (up to 400 mg/day), suspended in olive oil

DRUGPlacebo

matched placebo

Sponsors

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
CollaboratorNIH
New York State Psychiatric Institute
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* 1\. Women between the ages of 18-60 who meet criteria for current cocaine dependence (DSM-IV-TR). Volunteers may meet criteria for abuse or dependence on nicotine, marijuana or alcohol, as long as the dependence is secondary to cocaine dependence and does not require any medical intervention (see additional exclusions for alcohol dependence below). 2\. Use cocaine by the smoked or intranasal route at least four days in the past month, with at least weekly cocaine use. 3\. Women with regular menstrual cycles (24-45 days) who are not pregnant, based on the results of a blood pregnancy test drawn at the time of screening. They must agree to use a barrier method of contraception with proven efficacy and agree not to become pregnant during the study. To confirm this, urine pregnancy tests will be conducted weekly. 4\. Women must be capable of giving informed consent and capable of complying with study procedures.

Exclusion criteria

* 1\. Meets DSM-IV-TR criteria for bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia, or any psychotic disorder other than transient psychosis due to drug abuse. 2\. Individuals with any current Axis I psychiatric disorder as defined by DSM-IV-TR supported by the SCID-I/P that in the investigator's judgment are unstable or would be disrupted by study medication. Disorders that are stable on psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy will not be exclusionary. Individuals will be permitted to take prescribed zolpidem and zaleplon or other medications for insomnia if there is no evidence of dependence on these substances. 3\. Individuals with current major depressive disorder. 4\. Individuals physiologically dependent on any other drugs (excluding nicotine or cannabis) that require medical intervention will be excluded and referred for treatment. Individuals with severe alcohol dependence , even without physiological dependence, or with any known alcohol-related diseases will also be excluded. 5\. Females who have any of the following medical contraindications: undiagnosed abnormal genital bleeding, known or suspected history of breast or genital cancer, active deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or history of these conditions, active or recent (within last year) arterial thromboembolic diseases (e.g., stroke, myocardial infarction), liver dysfunction. 6\. Females who are cognitively impaired or have a chronic organic mental disorder. 7\. Individuals with current suicidal risk. 8\. Individuals with coronary vascular disease as indicated by history or suspected by abnormal ECG or history of cardiac symptoms. 9\. Unstable physical disorders which might make participation hazardous such as uncontrolled hypertension (Blood pressure \> 150/ 90, or Heart Rate \> 100 when sitting quietly), acute hepatitis (patients with chronic mildly elevated transaminases \< 3x upper limit of normal are acceptable), or uncontrolled diabetes. 10\. Individuals with a history of seizures. 11\. Women who are pregnant or nursing. 12\. Individuals who are legally mandated (e.g., to avoid incarceration, monetary or other penalties, etc.) to participate in substance abuse treatment program. 13\. Females with a known or suspected hypersensitivity to oral micronized progesterone.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Cocaine Abstinence Based on Urine Toxicology Resultsduring last 3 weeks of the trialPercentage of patients cocaine abstinent during last 3 weeks of the study (weeks 7-9)

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Matched Placebo
matched placebo Placebo: matched placebo
10
Oral Micronized Progesterone
Oral micronized progesterone (up to 400 mg/day) Oral micronized progesterone: Oral micronized progesterone (up to 400 mg/day), suspended in olive oil
11
Total21

Withdrawals & dropouts

PeriodReasonFG000FG001
Overall StudyLost to Follow-up33

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicOral Micronized ProgesteroneMatched PlaceboTotal
Age, Continuous45 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 8
41 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 9
43 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 8
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
Black
5 participants4 participants9 participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
Hispanic
2 participants1 participants3 participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
White, non-Hispanic
4 participants5 participants9 participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
11 participants10 participants21 participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
11 Participants10 Participants21 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
EG001
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
— / —— / —
other
Total, other adverse events
8 / 109 / 11
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 101 / 11

Outcome results

Primary

Cocaine Abstinence Based on Urine Toxicology Results

Percentage of patients cocaine abstinent during last 3 weeks of the study (weeks 7-9)

Time frame: during last 3 weeks of the trial

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
Matched PlaceboCocaine Abstinence Based on Urine Toxicology Results1 participants
Oral Micronized ProgesteroneCocaine Abstinence Based on Urine Toxicology Results3 participants
p-value: <0.05Fisher Exact

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 11, 2026