Table 2. Neuroprotective strategies currently in clinical trials.
| Neuroprotective/
neural-reparative drug |
ClinicalTrials.gov
identifier |
Status | Enrollment (number of
patients, level of injury |
Results | Mechanism of action | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thoracic | Cervical | ||||||
| Riluzole | NCT00876889 | Completed | 8 (T1–T11) | 28 (C4–C8) | Motor score improvement in patients
with cervical SCI, particularly with incomplete injuries. No significant effect in patients with thoracic SCI. |
Limit excitotoxicity | 36 |
| NCT01597518 | Recruiting | 0 | Est. enrollment
351 (C4–C8) |
37 | |||
| Therapeutic
hypothermia |
N/A | Completed | 0 | 14 (C4–C7) | Trend toward improvement of motor
scores compared with historical controls in the same institution. |
Reduce excitotoxicity,
inflammation, and vasogenic edema |
40 |
| NCT02991690 | Recruiting | 0 | Est. 120 (C1–C8) | ClinicalTrials.gov | |||
| Glibenclamide | NCT02524379 | Recruiting | 0 | Est. 10 (C2–C8) | Limit hemorrhage | ClinicalTrials.gov | |
| Granulocyte colony-
stimulating factor |
N/A | Completed | 0 | 28 (C2–C6) | Motor score improvement at 3 months
of treatment compared with MPSS historical controls. |
Promote neurogenesis
and angiogenesis, and reduce inflammation |
46 |
| N/A | Completed | 0 | 17 (C2–C6) | Motor score improvement from 1 week
to 1 year after SCI compared with placebo in an open non-randomized trial. |
47 | ||
| Minocycline | NCT00559494 | Completed | 17 (T1–T12) | 25 (C1–C8) | Motor score improvement in patients
with cervical SCI, particularly for motor incomplete. No benefit for patients with thoracic SCI. |
Reduce inflammation | 49 |
| NCT01828203 | Recruiting | 0 | Est. 248 (C0–C8) | ClinicalTrials.gov | |||
| Cethrin (VX-210) | NCT00500812 | Completed | 32 (T2–T12) | 16 (C4–T1) | Significant motor score improvement in
patients with cervical injury. No effect in patients with thoracic SCI. |
Inhibit axonal dieback
and reduce inflammation |
50 |
| NCT02669849 | Recruiting | 0 | Est. 150 (C5–C6) | ClinicalTrials.gov | |||
| Anti-Nogo-A antibody | NCT00406016 | Completed | 52 patients with injury between
C5 and T12; no data available about injury level classification |
No adverse effects. | Promote neurite sprouting | 127 | |
| ClinicalTrials.gov | |||||||
The table lists the discussed neuroprotective strategies for spinal cord injury (SCI) undergoing clinical evaluation. The status of trials and enrollment information, including level of injury and results, are summarized. This demonstrates that clinical trials are predominately focused on cervical SCI.
Est, estimated; N/A, not applicable; MPSS, methylprednisolone sodium succinate.