Who is sponsoring NCT03521960?

NCT03521960 is sponsored by Johns Hopkins University.

What drugs are being tested in NCT03521960?

Interventions in NCT03521960: Buspirone oral capsule, Placebo oral capsule.

What condition does NCT03521960 study?

NCT03521960 studies Opioid-Related Disorders, Dependency (Psychology), Pain, Chronic, Opiate Withdrawal Syndrome.

Is NCT03521960 still recruiting?

NCT03521960 is currently completed. Last updated 23 July 2020.

Last reviewed 2020-07-23 · How we verify

NCT03521960

Name: Drug Landscape Pharmaceutical Database
Creator: Drug Landscape
Published: 2026-01-01
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Buspirone for Opioid Tapering

Completed Phase 1 Last updated 23 July 2020

What this trial tests

Phase 1 trial testing Buspirone oral capsule in Opioid-Related Disorders in 18 participants. Completed in 30 June 2020.

Timeline

30 May 2018

Primary endpoint
30 June 2020

30 June 2020

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Johns Hopkins University
Phase	Phase 1
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	quadruple
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	18
Start date	30 May 2018
Primary completion	30 June 2020
Estimated completion	30 June 2020
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

Buspirone oral capsule
Placebo oral capsule

Conditions studied

Opioid-Related Disorders — all drugs for Opioid-Related Disorders →
Dependency (Psychology) — all drugs for Dependency (Psychology) →
Pain, Chronic — all drugs for Pain, Chronic →
Opiate Withdrawal Syndrome — all drugs for Opiate Withdrawal Syndrome →

Sponsor

Johns Hopkins University

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Opioid-Related Disorders or Dependency (Psychology). Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

This is a pilot study to collect preliminary data to support a grant application. The goal of the study is to evaluate whether the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved and generically-available medication buspirone reduces symptoms of opioid withdrawal among patients undergoing a clinically-indicated and supervised taper from their opioid pain medications. This is premised on strong preclinical scientific support but has not yet be well-examined in humans.

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, pilot clinical trial examining buspirone as an adjunctive medication during buprenorphine-assisted supervised opioid withdrawal.
Bergeria CL, Tan H, Antoine D, Weerts EM, et al · · 2023 · cited 4× · PMID 35266779 · DOI 10.1037/pha0000550

Verify or expand the search:

Other recruiting trials for Opioid-Related Disorders

Currently open trials in the same condition.

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NCT06001749 — Psilocybin in Cancer Pain Study · Phase 2 · recruiting

Other Johns Hopkins University trials

Trials by the same sponsor.

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Verify against primary sources

ClinicalTrials.gov — authoritative US registry record
WHO ICTRP — international registry index
EU Clinical Trials Register
Sponsor press releases (Google)

Data sources for this page

Trial protocol + status: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03521960 (US National Library of Medicine, public domain)
Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 10 June 2026
Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by Johns Hopkins University
Last refreshed: 23 July 2020

Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT03521960.

Primary sources · FDA · ClinicalTrials.gov · EMA · SEC EDGAR · ChEMBL · Wikidata · full sourcing