Ulrich Specks, M.D.

The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of depemokimab 200 mg SC every 26 weeks compared with mepolizumab 300 mg SC every 4 weeks in participants with relapsing or refractory EGPA receiving Standard of Care (SoC) therapy with the endpoint of remission (i.e., a Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS)=0 and a dose of oral corticosteroids (OCS) ≤ 4mg/day) at both Week 36 and Week 52.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness and safety of depemokimab 200 mg (administered as 100 mg x 2) SC injections every 26 weeks compared with mepolizumab 300 mg (administered as 100 mg x 3) SC injections every 4 weeks in participants with relapsing or refractory EGPA receiving SoC therapy, over a 52-week intervention period.

Depemokimab is a humanised, affinity matured monoclonal antibody that blocks human interleukin-5 (IL-5) binding to its receptor. Depemokimab is being developed as a long‑acting subcutaneous injectable anti-IL-5 (anti-IL-5) therapy and is expected to deliver an efficacy and safety profile similar to the current anti-IL-5 therapies with a reduced dosing frequency (once every 26 weeks).

The purpose of this study is to determine the proportion of patients achieving both complete remission and seronegativity for Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody (ANCA) at 6 months. 

The study is a double-blind, randomized, active controlled phase 2 study.  It will take place at multiple sites and enroll 30 patients who have clinical diagnosis of either granulomatosis with polyangiitis or microscopic polyangiitis (PR3-AAV).  It will look at the study drug, Obinutuzumab, for the treatment of these diagnosis and evaulate the safety of the drug.  Subjects will be followed for 18 months after first treatment.  The study will complete when all enrolled subjects are have been followed for 18 months or have withdrawn.  

The purpose of this clinical trial is to determine if low dose naltrexone is effective in improving health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among patients with vasculitis. Although it is a pilot study, a placebo-controlled component is used because of the prominent placebo group effect seen in studies with self-reported subjective outcomes.

Naltrexone is an FDA approved drug (for alcoholism) that has found widespread use "off-label" to treat pain and improve quality of life at much lower doses than are used for the approved indication. There are a few scientific studies in three conditions (fibromyalgia, Crohn's disease, and multiple sclerosis) that suggest that this drug has benefit and is safe. However, considering the extent of use in other conditions, and uncertainty about the mechanism of action study is needed in a diverse set of diseases, including vasculitis.

The purpose of this study is to assess the long-term safety and efficacy of avacopan as adjunctive treatment for ANCA-associated vasculitis.   

The purpose of this randomized, double-blind study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of mepolizumab (300 milligram [mg] administered subcutaneously [SC] every 4 weeks) compared with placebo over a 52-week study treatment period in subjects with relapsing or refractory Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (EGPA) receiving standard of care therapy including background corticosteroid therapy with or without immunosuppressive therapy. During the treatment period, in accordance with standard of care, corticosteroid dose will be tapered. The key outcomes in the study focus on evaluation of clinical remission, defined as Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS)=0 with a corticosteroid dose of ≤4 mg/day prednisolone/prednisone, reduction in disease relapse and reduction in corticosteroid requirement.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of belimumab, in combination with azathioprine, for the maintenance of remission following a standard induction regimen in patients with Wegener's granulomatosis or microscopic polyangiitis. The random assignment in this study is "1 to 1" which means that participants have an equal chance of receiving belimumab or placebo.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Benralizumab compared to Mepolizumab to treat Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (EGPA) in patients receiving standard of care (SOC) therapy.

The aim of the trial is to assess the safety and efficacy of the orally-administered, selective complement C5a receptor inhibitor CCX168 (avacopan) in inducing and sustaining remission in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV).

Multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of abatacept to achieve sustained glucocorticoid-free remission in patients with relapsing non-severe granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's) (GPA) . Participants will be randomized 1:1 to receive either abatacept 125 mg or placebo administered by subcutaneous injection once a week. Participants will continue on study treatment for a minimum of 12 months unless they experience a disease relapse or disease flare. Participants who experience a non-severe disease relapse, non-severe disease worsening, or who have not achieved remission by month 6 will have the option of entering an open-label trial period whereby they would receive open-label abatacept.

Rituximab is now established as an effective drug for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) vasculitis following major European and US trials reported in 2010. After a time, its effect wears off and the disease can return. This occurs in at least half of patients within 2 years of receiving Rituximab. A preliminary study in Cambridge has suggested that repeating rituximab every six months stops the disease returning and is safe. The RITAZAREM trial will find out whether repeating rituximab stops vasculitis returning and whether it works better than the older treatments, azathioprine or methotrexate. It will also tell us how long patients remain well after the repeated rituximab treatments are stopped, and if repeated rituximab is safe. We should also learn useful information about the effects of rituximab on quality of life and economic measures. The trial results will help decide the best treatment for future patients who have their vasculitis initially treated with rituximab. RITAZAREM aims to recruit patients with established ANCA vasculitis whose disease has come back 'relapsing vasculitis'. All patients will be treated with rituximab and steroids and we anticipate that most will respond well. If their disease is under reasonable control after four months, further treatment with either rituximab (a single dose ever four months for two years) or azathioprine tablets will be chosen randomly. The patients in the rituximab and azathioprine groups will then be compared. Patients will be in the trial for four years. The study has been designed by members of the European Vasculitis Study group (EUVAS) and the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC). It will include 190 participants from 30 hospitals in Europe, the USA, Australia and Mexico. RITAZAREM is being funded by Arthritis Research UK, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and by Roche/Genentech.

The purpose of this study is to develop a repository of serum and urine samples from patients with AAV to support future studies into the development of such biomarkers. 

The purpose of this study is to determine whether plasma exchange as well as immunosuppressive therapy are effective in reducing death and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The trial will also study whether a reduced cumulative dosing regimen of glucocorticoids is as effective as a standard disease regimen.

The FDA-OOPD is one of the funding sources for this study.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the safety and tolerability of two dose regimens of IFX-1 as add-on to standard of care (SOC) in subjects with GPA and MPA compared with placebo.

This study is a multi-center randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effects of using low-dose prednisone as compared to stopping prednisone treatment entirely. Participants will be randomized 1:1 to taper their prednisone dose down to 5 mg/day or to 0 mg/day for the duration of the study (approximately six months) or until a study endpoint.

The purpose of this study is to identify genes that increase the risk of developing vasculitis, a group of severe diseases that feature inflammation of blood vessels. Results of these studies will provide vasculitis researchers with insight into the causes of these diseases and generate new ideas for diagnostic tests and therapies, and will be of great interest to the larger communities of researchers investigating vasculitis and other autoimmune, inflammatory, and vascular diseases.