Could a common antidepressant tame severe asthma?
NCT ID NCT06216535
First seen Jun 24, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 2 times
Summary
This phase 2 trial tests whether escitalopram, an FDA-approved antidepressant, can reduce severe asthma flare-ups in people with moderate to severe asthma who have had at least three attacks in the past year. About 105 participants will receive either escitalopram or a placebo pill for several months. The main goal is to see if the drug lowers the number of attacks needing steroids or hospital visits.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Escitalopram (an antidepressant pill)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could point toward a new way to prevent severe asthma attacks using a common, low-cost antidepressant.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-phase trial (105 people) testing a drug not originally designed for asthma. It may not reduce exacerbations, and side effects like nausea or drowsiness are possible.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 2
Tests whether the treatment actually works, and watches for side effects, in a larger group.
- Participants
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About 105 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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May 2025
- Expected to finish
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Jun 2029
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 75 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Moderate to severe persistent asthma * Treatment with medium to high dose ICS and LABA therapy * Three or more severe asthma exacerbations (requiring ≥ 3 days of systemic corticosteroids) in the past year * Age 18-75 years old, male or female sex, English or Spanish speaking * Participants will be required to be clinically stable with no recent exacerbations, infections or changes in asthma controller therapy for at least 4 weeks before study entry * Biologic therapy for asthma (e.g., omalizumab, mepolizumab, reslizumab, benralizumab, dupilumab, tezepelumab) will be allowed if started at least 6 months prior to randomization Exclusion Criteria: * Current substance use disorder and/or current tobacco use or greater than 10 pack-years lifetime use * A current MDD episode as well as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder * Vulnerable populations including intellectual disability or other severe cognitive impairment, inmates, pregnant or nursing women or women of childbearing age who will not use UT Southwestern IRB-approved methods of birth control or abstinence during the study * Currently taking an antidepressant (antidepressants that are not SSRIs nor SNRIs prescribed for an indication other than depression at subtherapeutic doses are acceptable) * High risk for suicide defined as \> 1 past suicide attempts or any attempt within the past 12 months * Severe or life-threatening medical illness that would make completion of study unlikely or clinically significant laboratory or ECG findings at baseline
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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UT Southwestern, 1440 Empire Central, Ste. LD4.100
RECRUITINGDallas, Texas, 75247, United States
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