Clinical Trials
Working Toward a Treatment Together
ASF is committed to helping you understand what it means to participate in a clinical trial and provide you with personalized research opportunities.
Clinical trials test the safety and effectiveness of a therapy or drug. After drugs or procedures are tested in the lab and in animals, the most promising treatments are moved into clinical trials to find out how well they work in humans.
Current research for Angelman syndrome concentrates on gene therapy, an experimental technique that uses genes (instead of drugs or surgery) to treat or prevent disease. The most popular approaches to gene therapy include:
Replacing a mutated gene that causes disease with a healthy copy of the same gene.
2.
Inactivating, “knocking out,” or “knocking down” a mutated gene that is not working correctly.
3.
Introducing a new gene into the body to help fight a disease.
The development of any new drug or therapy for Angelman syndrome must adhere to a scientifically rigorous and well-regulated process. This process ensures that any new treatment is both safe and effective before it becomes available to the public. The path to therapy development is divided into distinct stages and takes many years before it moves into Clinical Trials.
Once a drug therapy moves into the Clinical Trial phase, the trials follow a strict protocol that’s divided into four phases. This process can take from six to 10 years.
Phase 1
Safety & Dosage
Phase 2
Safety & Efficacy
Phase 3
Side Effects & Efficacy
Phase 4
FDA Review
The below companies have Angelman therapeutics in their pipeline.
Company Name | Therapy | Phase |
---|---|---|
Neuren | NNZ-2591 | 3 |
Ionis | ION582 (ASO) | 3 |
Ultragenyx | GTX-102 (ASO) | 3 |
Oak Hill Bio | Rugonersen (ASO) | 3 |
Sage | Sage-324 | 1 |
MavriX Bio | MVX-220 (AAV) | 1 |
Roche | Alogobat (GABA-modulator) | 1 |
Lixte | LB-100 | Pre-clinical development |
BIOM Therapeutics | BIO017 (Cannabidiol) | Pre-clinical development |
UPENN / UNC-AskBio / Bamboo-Pfizer / StrideBio-Sarepta | Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) | Pre-clinical development |
Encoded | ETX201 (AAV-mediated Gene Therapy) | Pre-clinical development |
Brown University | Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) | Pre-clinical development |
Brown University | Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells (novel approach) | Pre-clinical development |
UNC | Dual-isoform UBE3A gene therapy (AAV) | Pre-clinical development |
UNC | CRISPR-CAS9 | Pre-clinical development |
Transformatx Biotherapeutics | Hematopoietic Stem Cell Gene Therapy | Pre-clinical development |
Denali | OTV-ASO (ASO) | Pre-clinical development |
CourageAS | CRISPR | Pre-clinical development |
UC Davis | Artificial Transcription Factors/Zinc Fingers (ATF-ZF) | Pre-clinical development |
Healx | HLX-0553 (Small Molecule) | Pre-clinical development |
Uconn-Ovid / UTSW | shRNA | Discovery |
UNC-Pinnacle Hill | Small Molecule | Discovery |
Keck Graduate Institute | Cell Penetrating Peptide (CRISPR) | Discovery |
Keck Graduate Institute | Enzyme Replacement Therapy | Discovery |
University of California San Francisco | CRISPRa | Discovery |
Find information related to all Angelman syndrome clinical trials listed below from clinicaltrials.gov.
NOTE: Some trials may reference Angelman syndrome in the descriptions but are not specifically designed for individuals with Angelman syndrome. Consult with your healthcare provider or the study contact to confirm whether a particular trial is appropriate for Angelman syndrome patients.
Silver Russell Syndrome (SRS) is a rare imprinting disorder (about 1/16000). Parental imprinting is an epigenetic regulation phenomenon leading to the monoallelic expression of some genes. Its establishment takes place in the gametes and its maintenance is important at the early embryonic stage. Increase in the prevalence of conception by assisted reproductive technology (ART) has already been found in patients with imprinted disorder such as Angelman, Beckwith-Wiedemann or Prader Willi Syndromes, and more recently with SRS; ART is associated with an increase in the frequency of SRS. Several hypotheses are formulated to explain this increase. The first one is the involvement of the infertility etiology in the imprinting disorder genesis. The second one is the involvement of ART technics in the genesis of abnormal gamete imprinting during their manipulation or during imprinting maintenance at early embryonic stages.
Our main objective is to estimate ART conceptions prevalence in children followed for a SRS. The secondary objectives are to estimate infertility prevalence among parents of patients with SRS, to estimate factors frequency possibly responsible for the genesis of imprinting anomalies among parents of patients with SRS, to describe the infertility causes and to detail ART technics used (stimulation protocols, type of fertilization used, modality of embryonic culture and transfer, embryonic characteristics).
A transversal pilote study will be firstly conducted in parents of patients followed in Silver Russell Syndrome Reference Center (Pediatric Endocrine department, in Trousseau Hospital, Paris).
Data collection will be done by phone, after collecting the non-opposition of the parents, in order to complete a questionnaire concerning their fertility and conception mode of their child. If ART was used to conceive, a questionnaire concerning the details of the ART technics used will be sent to the doctor and:or the ART biologist, who performed the ART. The data will be anonymized and collected on a REDCap database.
Angelman syndrome (AS) is a rare neurogenetic disorder that affects approximately 1 in 15,000 children - approximately 500,000 people worldwide. It is a major neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severe developmental delay with significant intellectual disability, lack of oral language, motor, balance, and sensory impairments.
While basic research and clinical trials are progressing, the scientific community is still searching for key biomarkers to assess significant improvements in individuals participating in clinical trials.
Eye tracking has been widely used in the diagnosis of social perception abnormalities in children with autism spectrum disorder, as has already been the case for other rare neurodevelopmental diseases. However, few studies have highlighted the usefulness of eye tracking as a diagnostic tool for social behavioral disorders in individuals with Angelman syndrome. Given the prevalence of autistic-like symptoms in patients with AS, if eye-tracking can identify abnormalities in social perception in children with Angelman syndrome, these measurements could become a biomarker for therapeutic studies in these patients.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ION582 in children and adults with Angelman syndrome caused by a deletion or mutation of the UBE3A gene.
The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of GTX-102 in cognitive function in participants with deletion-type Angelman Syndrome (AS).
The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the long-term safety profile of GTX-102 in participants with Angelman Syndrome (AS)
Recent studies have shown that the aperiodic part of the signal (neuronal avalanches) of electroencephalography (EEG) contains important information about the dynamics of neuronal networks. Indeed, this has helped to identify functionally altered areas in patients with temporal epilepsy by simply using the resting EEG signal. Furthermore, it has been seen that the propagation of neuronal avalanches (VNs) correlates with the morphological organization of the cerebral cortex. Therefore, NAs represent a measure with direct utility for studying functional reorganization pre and post drug/surgical treatment. In addition, the aperiodic portion of the signal may represent a noninvasive measure of the excitation/inhibition relationship, which is known of being altered both in epilepsy and in some rare neurodevelopmental syndromes (example: Angelman and Dup15q)
Clinical trials are a type of research designed to answer specific medical questions such as, is this treatment safe for patients or how well does the treatment work? The research follows a very specific process and involves testing the new drugs, medicines, or devices on real people.
Each clinical trial asks a question. Some questions will be answered more quickly than others. That’s why the length of each trial is different. Details for each particular study can be found in the informed consent document.
Participants in clinical trials help researchers find out if new medicines or devices are safe and truly help the patient. They provide new information about a disease or process that can help current and future patients live a fuller life. Being in a trial might also give you access to new treatments before they are approved and available to others.
There are no laws against participating in more than one clinical trial at the same time. However, you should check with the PI of the current clinical trial you are participating in (or in each trial you are interested in) to see if that is an exclusion criteria.
The website, www.ClinicalTrials.gov, provides a list of clinical trials in the US. You can select a specific disorder on their site and sign up for notification of new trials. Parents or caregivers of an individual diagnosed with Angelman syndrome can complete the ASF Contact Registry. As new information about clinical trials becomes available, we share it with Angelman families.
Most clinical trials take place where people already go for medical care – a doctor’s office or clinic. These locations can be near you or require travel. The details for each study can be found in the informed consent document.
Not all studies pay for travel to and from the trial site. When travel is included, payment takes many forms including reimbursement for gas or taxi services. Some communities use Uber, Lyft, and similar companies to transport participants to the study location. Details related to travel costs will be in the informed consent document and you can ask about compensation for trial costs at any time. Please note that the IRS requires study payments of $600 or more to be reported on tax returns.
Eligibility requirements are usually different for every clinical trial. Check the clinical trial information on ClinicalTrials.gov for full eligibility requirements. Your individual’s doctor can help you evaluate possible options.
No rule or regulation requires sponsors to pay study participants; however, many offer compensation of some kind. Money, travel reimbursement, free health care, free screening exams and other tests are the most common forms of compensation. Details related to payment are in the informed consent document. Please note that the IRS requires study payments of $600 or more to be reported on tax returns.
Genome (gene) editing gives researchers a way to change an organism’s DNA. Multiple methods of changing a specific part of genetic code exist, but they all act like a pair of scissors. The “scissors” cut a targeted spot of DNA then scientists remove, add, or replace that spot with something else.
The newest and most popular approach to gene editing is known as CRISPR-Cas9 which is short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats – CRISPR-associated protein 9. This process of gene-editing originated in bacteria and was adapted to human DNA. After years of lab tests and research, CRISPR proved to be faster, cheaper, more accurate, and efficient than other gene-editing methods. Its success was celebrated but also led to ethical concerns related to how and when gene editing should be used.
Small molecule therapies use drugs with a low molecular weight (< 900 daltons) to regulate cell activity or modify a disease process. Due to their size, small molecules can easily enter cells and quickly reach the target. They provide easy, straightforward delivery with few immune system interactions.
Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are DNA molecules that interact with messenger RNA. ASO gene therapy “silences” a specific gene’s effect instead of repairing or replacing it. A clinical trial could use chemically engineered ASOs to target the molecule that causes Angelman syndrome and prevent it from working.
The mission of Angelman Syndrome Foundation is to advance the awareness and treatment of Angelman syndrome through education and information, research and support for individuals with Angelman syndrome, their families and other concerned parties. We exist to give all of them a reason to smile, with the ultimate goal of finding a cure.