Recruiting
Early Phase 1

Ceftriaxone

Sponsor:

State University of New York - Upstate Medical University

Code:

NCT06611111

Conditions

Post-Treatment Lyme Disease

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Ceftriaxone (Rocephin®)

Dextrose 5% (D5W)

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if an FDA approved drug, Ceftriaxone, given intermittently, can treat people between 18 and 75 years old with a history of Lyme disease, who are still experiencing persistent or returning symptoms after they have completed treatment. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Will giving Ceftriaxone approximately every 5 days for 6 weeks be safe and well tolerated when compared to a group that receives placebo (a look-alike substance that contains no drug)?
  • Will giving Ceftriaxone improve symptoms?

Participants will be asked to do the following:

  • Come to the clinic approximately every 5-6 days to receive an IV infusion of either the Ceftriaxone or placebo.
  • Answer questions about their level of tiredness, body pain, general health and physical ability, sleep, anxiety, depression and any suicidal thoughts.
  • Give blood so we can make sure your body is handling the drug okay or to help us learn more about how the drug is affecting the persistent Lyme disease symptoms.

Conditions

Post-Treatment Lyme Disease

Study ID

NCT06611111

Start date

Feb 3, 2025

Status verified date

Mar, 2026

Completion date

Dec, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age 18 to 75 at the time of consent
2. Ability and willingness to sign informed consent
3. Available for the study period
4. Must have met the definition of a prior well-defined or probable Lyme disease infection, AND meet the definition of PTLDS
5. Provide consent for release of medical history records from primary care physician, college or university, urgent care or emergency room visit
6. Have a level of fatigue that interferes with their ability to function in their job, schooling, or other social/personal activities (FSS score of 4 or higher)
7. Subjects will need to have been off of antibiotics (those standard antibiotics used to target Lyme disease to include doxycycline, amoxicillin, cefuroxime, azithromycin, ceftriaxone or penicillin) for at least 6 weeks prior to study enrollment and be willing to remain off of any outside antibiotics during the duration of the treatment component of the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Female: pregnant or lactating
2. Women who intend to become pregnant during the treatment study period (approximately 45 days)
3. Patients with a diagnosis of Lyme disease based on only a positive Lyme IgM immunoblot
4. A history of cephalosporin allergy or significant intolerance
5. Lyme related symptoms that have been present for greater than 10 years
6. Blood tests confirming infection with human immunodeficiency virus- 1 (HIV-1), hepatitis C, hepatitis B (assessed by HbsAg) virus.

Note: Subjects who have well controlled HIV, who are on ART with a CD4 count greater than 200 will be allowed to participate.
7. Diagnosis with Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia, hospitalization in the past year for a mental health disorder, or any other psychiatric condition (to include any finding of increased suicide risk as identified by a rating of moderate or high risk on the CSSRS assessment), which in the opinion of the investigator prevents the subject from participating in the study
8. Known concurrent rheumatologic or similar disease thought to interfere with study participation or confound results at the discretion of the investigator. These may include but are not limited to rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematous, Sjogren's syndrome, scleroderma, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis, or obstructive sleep apnea
9. Hives, shortness of breath, swelling of the lips or throat, or hospitalization related to a previous treatment with a cephalosporin antibiotic, or severe allergic reaction to penicillins (e.g. anaphylaxis or severe rash with Stevens Johnson syndrome or similar)
10. Planned travel during the study period that would interfere with the ability to complete all study visits (this can be a temporary exclusion with plan to schedule enrollment during a window of time during which they could attend their study visits)
11. Significant screening physical examination abnormalities or chronic medical condition that in the opinion of the investigator may impact subject safety
12. 12\. Participation (active or follow-up phase) or planned participation in another vaccine, drug, or medical device in the 4 weeks prior to this trial, within 5 times the elimination half-life, whichever is longer, or during the trial
13. Prior history of Clostridium difficile infection
14. Currently taking warfarin (Coumadin)
15. Unable to comply with study requirements
16. Clinician discretion

Study Design

Enrollment

44 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: Ceftriaxone

Participants will receive IV infusion of 2g Ceftriaxone, approximately every 5 days for 6 weeks for a total of 9 treatments.

placebo comparator: Placebo

Participants will receive IV infusion of dextrose 5% in water, approximately every 5 days for 6 weeks for a total of 9 treatments

Interventions

Ceftriaxone (Rocephin®)

Slightly yellow liquid.

Dextrose 5% (D5W)

Colorless liquid

Primary outcome measure

  • Number of abnormal laboratory measurements [ Time Frame: 30 days post last treatment ]
  • Intensity of Abnormal Laboratory Measurements [ Time Frame: 30 days post final treatment ]
  • Duration of Abnormal Laboratory Measurements [ Time Frame: 30 days post final treatment ]
  • Occurrence of adverse events [ Time Frame: 30 days post last treatment ]
  • Intensity adverse events [ Time Frame: 30 days post final treatment ]
  • Duration of adverse events [ Time Frame: 30 days post final treatment ]
  • Number of serious adverse events [ Time Frame: 1 year post study start ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

SUNY Upstate Medical University, Upstate Global Health Institute

Recruiting

East Syracuse, New York, United States, 13057

More Information

Sponsor

State University of New York - Upstate Medical University

Last update posted

Mar 19, 2026

Last verified

Mar, 2026

Keywords

  • Pulse Dose
  • Ceftriaxone
  • PTLDS
  • Chronic Lyme Disease

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by State University of New York - Upstate Medical University on 2026-03-19.