Safety and Efficacy of Capsule FMT in Treatment-naïve Patients With Newly Diagnosed Chronic Inflammatory Diseases

Summary

PURPOSE: The main purpose is to explore clinical efficacy and safety associated with capsule FMT (cFMT) performed in newly diagnosed, untreated patients with rheumatic and gastrointestinal chronic inflammatory diseases (CIDs).

DESIGN AND METHODS: In this 1:1 double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, 12-month exploratory trial, 200 patients with at least one of 6 different diagnoses of CIDs fulfilling the study criteria will be enrolled at time of diagnosis. The patient groups are: rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), Crohn's disease (CD), and ulcerative colitis (UC). The primary endpoint is change from baseline to eight weeks in the physical component summary (PCS) of the short form health survey (SF-36). Key secondary clinical endpoints will be evaluated at 8 weeks. Other secondary clinical endpoints will be evaluated at 52 weeks and reported in secondary papers.

The baseline visit will be performed as quickly as possible after the patient's informed consent has been obtained to ensure no unnecessary treatment delay. Stratified by CID diagnosis, patients will be randomised (1:1) to either placebo or single-donor cFMT processed from stool provided to the hospital from anonymous-to-the-patient healthy donors. The experimental intervention FMT/placebo will be repeated once weekly the first month (i.e., each patient will receive a total of four treatments). In addition, all participants will concomitantly be offered the national guideline first-line anti-inflammatory treatment following the baseline visit.

At baseline, 8 weeks, 26 weeks, and 52 weeks a thorough clinical examination will be conducted and all relevant clinical scores for each disease entity will be registered. Patient-reported-outcomes including SF-36 and disease specific questionnaires will be collected at week 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 (primary endpoint evaluation), 26 and 52. Adverse events will be monitored through out the trial.

Conditions

• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Psoriatic Arthritis
• Crohn Disease
• Ulcerative Colitis

Interventions

BIOLOGICAL

Faecal microbiota transplantation

The capsule FMT transplant consists of faeces obtained from a thoroughly screened, unpaid, anonymous stool donor. Each FMT product is made from 50g faeces diluted in sterile saline (0.9% NaCl) and glycerol, blended, centrifuged and filtered to remove particulate material before transfer to double-layered capsules. The FMT capsules will be stored at - 80 ⁰C until use. On the day of the FMT, the FMT capsules will be thawed to room temperature before treatment.

OTHER

Placebo

Placebo capsules consist of NaCl (0.9%) and glycerol added brown food colouring.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Region of Southern Denmark

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Southern Denmark

  collaborator OTHER

• Odense University Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Torkell Ellingsen, MD PhD · Odense University Hospital

• Maja S Kragsnaes, MD PhD · Odense University Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

75 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-12-13

Primary Completion

2027-03-01

Completion

2027-12-31

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations