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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.
Amy Stenson
0131 242 9122
astenson@exseed.ed.ac.uk
Professor Chandran
0131 465 9612
siddharthan.chandran@ed.ac.uk
Motor Neuron Disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
This information is provided directly by researchers, and we recognise that it isn't always easy to understand. We are working with researchers to improve the accessibility of this information. In some summaries, you may come across links to external websites. These websites will have more information to help you better understand the study.
MND-SMART is investigating whether selected drugs can slow down the progression of motor neurone disease (MND) and improve survival.
The study is 'multi-arm' meaning more than one treatment will be tested at the same time. The trial started with 3 arms; drug 1 (memantine), drug 2 (trazodone) and placebo (dummy drug). A third drug, amantadine, was added in April 2023. The first two drugs, memantine and trazodone, were removed from the trial in September 2023 due to lack of benefit. The trial currently has 2 recruiting arms; amantadine and placebo. This allows the evaluation of each drug versus placebo. Participants will be randomly allocated to either of the recruiting arms. Medicines being tested are already approved for use in other conditions.
MND-SMART has an 'adaptive' design. This means medicines being studied can change according to emerging results. Treatments shown to be ineffective can be dropped and new drugs can be added over the duration of the study. This will allow many treatments, over time, to be efficiently and definitively evaluated.
The medicines being tested have been selected following a rigorous process involving a systematic, unbiased, and comprehensive review of past clinical trials data, as well as information from pre-clinical research (studies in laboratories), for MND and other related neurodegenerative disorders. Drugs have been ranked for inclusion in MND-SMART by a group of independent MND experts according to set criteria. These include consideration of how the drugs work, their safety profiles, and the quality of previous studies.
New drugs will be selected for investigation in MND-SMART based on continuous review of constantly updated scientific evidence as well as findings from state-of-the-art human stem cell based drug discovery platforms. These can be added by substantial amendment to the protocol.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
"Wong C, Dakin RS, Williamson J, Newton J, Steven M, Colville S, Stavrou M, Gregory JM, Elliott E, Mehta AR, Chataway J, Swingler RJ, Parker RA, Weir CJ, Stallard N, Parmar MKB, Macleod MR, Pal S, Chandran S. Motor Neuron Disease Systematic Multi-Arm Adaptive Randomised Trial (MND-SMART): a multi-arm, multi-stage, adaptive, platform, phase III randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of repurposed drugs in motor neuron disease. BMJ Open. 2022 Jul 7;12(7):e064173. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-064173."; "35798516"
You can take part if:
You may not be able to take part if:
This is in the inclusion criteria above
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
Professor Chandran
0131 465 9612
siddharthan.chandran@ed.ac.uk
Amy Stenson
0131 242 9122
astenson@exseed.ed.ac.uk
The study is sponsored by University of Edinburgh and is in collaboration with University College, London; University of Warwick; NHS Lothian.
Your feedback is important to us. It will help us improve the quality of the study information on this site. Please answer both questions.
You can print or share the study information with your GP/healthcare provider or contact the research team directly.
