Could a new oral drug help teens with sickle cell pain?
NCT ID NCT05378555
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tests if oral ketamine can help control severe pain from sickle-cell crises in teens and young adults (ages 12–24). Participants receive the drug every 8 hours for 48 hours alongside standard pain care. The goal is to find better ways to manage pain and reduce the need for high-dose opioids.
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 3
Large-scale testing in a bigger group. Usually the last step before a treatment can be approved.
- Participants
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About 10 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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May 2023
- Expected to finish
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Jun 2026
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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12 to 24 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.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Patients 12-24 years of age who require admission for vaso-occlusive pain Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who have had side effects to previous use of intravenous ketamine for treatment of vaso-occlusive pain that would preclude using ketamine for future pain episodes. * Patient refusal to participate
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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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Boston Children's Hospital
RECRUITINGBoston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can adding common pain drugs reduce morphine needs in sickle cell crises?
- Breathing machine may ease lung risk for kids with sickle cell
- Could laughing gas replace opioids for sickle cell pain?
- Could pressurized oxygen ease sickle cell pain?
- New drug aims to cut sickle cell pain episodes
- New study aims to unlock secrets of sickle cell pain crises in kids