Use of Xyrem to Improve Sleep in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Brief summary (from the registry)

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disabling illness for which there is no specific treatment. As a group, CFS patients have disturbed sleep with frequent arousals and the sense of not having slept upon awakening. Xyrem (Sodium oxybate) is known to improve deep sleep and so may reduce the sleep disturbances of CFS leading to better sleep with less fatigue. Its ability to produce the rapid onset of deep sleep is a reason it became a street drug, but its availability is currently limited via distribution through a single centralized pharmacy. Xyrem has been successfully used based on results from a study on patients with fibromyalgia (FM), an ailment closely resembling CFS. However, in that study, the researchers provided no information as to whether patients had FM alone or FM plus CFS. Thus, it is not clear from this study just which patient may be helped. I have prescribed Xyrem for patients who have both FM and CFS with good results. In this study, funded by the company that makes Xyrem, I propose testing the drug's efficacy on patients with CFS alone - that is, they do not have fibromyalgia. Volunteers for this study will complete paper and pencil questionnaires about their symptoms as well as a computerized test to assess their degree of brain fog. They will then be randomly assigned to one of two groups, placebo or drug. Volunteers will not know what group they are in until the end of the study. Only the drug group will receive the medication. The placebo group will receive a substance that looks identical to the real medicine but with no active ingredients. The medication comes as a liquid and patients will start taking an initial dose about 30 min before they expect to sleep. If subjects awaken after less than 5 hrs of sleep, they will take a second dose. If they sleep more than 5 hrs, they will be told to skip taking the second dose. We will call patients weekly to see how they are doing on the "drug." If they have tolerable side effects or report significant imp…

Study details

Official title

Phase IV - A Trial of Xyrem in the Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Conditions

• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Interventions

• Drug: Placebo
• Drug: Sodium Oxybate

Sponsor

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Collaborators

Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Organization

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Start date

2007-05

Primary completion

2008-12

Sex

All

Age range

from 21 Years to 65 Years

Results posted

Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov

Countries

United States

Total sites listed

1

Eligibility criteria