Creatine Safety and Tolerability in Premanifest HD: PRECREST

• Completion of Study (tolerability) [ Time Frame: 18 Months ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  Tolerability (proportion of subjects completing study at given dose level)
• Safety [ Time Frame: 18 Months ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  Frequency of adverse events

• Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic biomarkers [ Time Frame: 18 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
• UHDRS [ Time Frame: 18 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
• Brain Volumetric & Neurochemical Changes [ Time Frame: 18 Months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
• Metabolomics & Gene Expression Biomarkers [ Time Frame: 18 Months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

• pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic biomarkers [ Time Frame: 18 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
• UHDRS [ Time Frame: 18 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

PRECREST is a two phase protocol for Huntington's disease in which 60 premanifest and at-risk subjects will first be randomized into a double blind placebo controlled dose titration study bringing them to 30 grams daily or their highest tolerated dose. This phase will establish the highest tolerable doses in premanifest HD and permit the detection of toxicity and intolerability with attribution to active compound versus placebo, and enable a dose response assessment of biomarkers. In the second phase, all subjects will enter a year long open-label treatment on 30 grams daily (or their highest dose) of creatine to assess long term exposure to high dose creatine and its long term impact on various biomarkers.

Extensive evidence exists that neurodegeneration begins many years before HD can be diagnosed clinically. Therefore, it is most desirable to begin a neuroprotective therapy before or during this premanifest period with the aim of delaying onset, as well as slowing functional decline. Cellular energy depletion is present early in HD and can be ameliorated by creatine, which helps regenerate cellular ATP. Preclinical evidence for creatine's potential neuroprotective effects in animal models of HD has been well-documented. Before the clinical efficacy of creatine can be tested in premanifest HD, its long-term safety and tolerability must be assessed in these individuals and its ability to favorably modify biomarkers of HD should also be confirmed. A two phase protocol is proposed in which 60 premanifest and at-risk subjects will randomized into a double blind placebo controlled dose titration study bringing them to 30 grams daily or their highest tolerated dose. The placebo-controlled phase will permit the detection of toxicity and intolerability due to the active compound (creatine), and enable a dose response assessment of biomarkers. In the second phase, all subjects will enter a year long open-label treatment on 30 grams daily of creatine. This phase will maximize the subjects on active compound to promote recruitment and retention, to expand assessment of safety data on all subjects, and increase the power to detect and measure potential biological markers and any response to the active compound. The clinical impact of creatine will be assessed using the United Huntington's Disease Rating Scale. Safety and tolerability will be assessed by analyzing clinical and laboratory adverse events. Serum levels of creatine will be used to assess compliance and whether there is a relationship between bioavailability and response. 8OH2'dG and related markers will be assessed to determine whether creatine treatment can chronically suppress markers of energy depletion and oxidative injury and whether suppression correlates with slowing the progression of HD. Morphometric MRI will be used to determine whether creatine can slow brain atrophy in premanifest HD. This study will provide the pilot data needed to plan a future study to determine whether creatine can delay the onset or slow the progress of HD in premanifest individuals.

• Drug: Creatine monohydrate
  10 to 30 grams daily
• Drug: Placebo
  10 to 30 grams daily

• Placebo Comparator: 1
  Intervention: Drug: Placebo
• Active Comparator: 2
  Intervention: Drug: Creatine monohydrate

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• Hersch SM, Gevorkian S, Marder K, Moskowitz C, Feigin A, Cox M, Como P, Zimmerman C, Lin M, Zhang L, Ulug AM, Beal MF, Matson W, Bogdanov M, Ebbel E, Zaleta A, Kaneko Y, Jenkins B, Hevelone N, Zhang H, Yu H, Schoenfeld D, Ferrante R, Rosas HD. Creatine in Huntington disease is safe, tolerable, bioavailable in brain and reduces serum 8OH2'dG. Neurology. 2006 Jan 24;66(2):250-2.
• Ryu H, Rosas HD, Hersch SM, Ferrante RJ. The therapeutic role of creatine in Huntington's disease. Pharmacol Ther. 2005 Nov;108(2):193-207. Epub 2005 Aug 1. Review.
• Dedeoglu A, Kubilus JK, Yang L, Ferrante KL, Hersch SM, Beal MF, Ferrante RJ. Creatine therapy provides neuroprotection after onset of clinical symptoms in Huntington's disease transgenic mice. J Neurochem. 2003 Jun;85(6):1359-67.
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• Bechtel N, Scahill RI, Rosas HD, Acharya T, van den Bogaard SJ, Jauffret C, Say MJ, Sturrock A, Johnson H, Onorato CE, Salat DH, Durr A, Leavitt BR, Roos RA, Landwehrmeyer GB, Langbehn DR, Stout JC, Tabrizi SJ, Reilmann R. Tapping linked to function and structure in premanifest and symptomatic Huntington disease. Neurology. 2010 Dec 14;75(24):2150-60. Epub 2010 Nov 10.
• Rosas HD, Lee SY, Bender AC, Zaleta AK, Vangel M, Yu P, Fischl B, Pappu V, Onorato C, Cha JH, Salat DH, Hersch SM. Altered white matter microstructure in the corpus callosum in Huntington's disease: implications for cortical "disconnection". Neuroimage. 2010 Feb 15;49(4):2995-3004. Epub 2009 Oct 19.
• Rosas HD, Salat DH, Lee SY, Zaleta AK, Hevelone N, Hersch SM. Complexity and heterogeneity: what drives the ever-changing brain in Huntington's disease? Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008 Dec;1147:196-205. Review.
• Hersch SM, Rosas HD. Neuroprotection for Huntington's disease: ready, set, slow. Neurotherapeutics. 2008 Apr;5(2):226-36. Review.
• Rosas HD, Salat DH, Lee SY, Zaleta AK, Pappu V, Fischl B, Greve D, Hevelone N, Hersch SM. Cerebral cortex and the clinical expression of Huntington's disease: complexity and heterogeneity. Brain. 2008 Apr;131(Pt 4):1057-68. Epub 2008 Mar 12.
• Rosas HD, Tuch DS, Hevelone ND, Zaleta AK, Vangel M, Hersch SM, Salat DH. Diffusion tensor imaging in presymptomatic and early Huntington's disease: Selective white matter pathology and its relationship to clinical measures. Mov Disord. 2006 Sep;21(9):1317-25.
• Rosas HD, Hevelone ND, Zaleta AK, Greve DN, Salat DH, Fischl B. Regional cortical thinning in preclinical Huntington disease and its relationship to cognition. Neurology. 2005 Sep 13;65(5):745-7.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Expansion positive or 50% at risk for HD and not diagnosed clinically

Exclusion Criteria:

- Unstable medical conditions

Additional inclusion and exclusion criteria apply.