A New Intervention to Improve Function in Veterans With Anxiety and Depression
VA Office of Research and Development
84 participants
Aug 14, 2025
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
Anxiety and depression symptoms occur at high rates in Veteran populations and can significantly impact function, compromising the ability to work and to successfully form and maintain valued relationships. Several other symptoms commonly occur with anxiety and depression, including poor sleep quality and chronic pain. Since all these symptoms frequently occur together, they may have a common underlying biological basis. A single medication that could effectively treat all these symptoms would be ideal. Converging data suggest that pregnenolone is a promising pharmacological agent for treating multiple psychiatric symptoms and functional impairment. The investigators thus propose to conduct a clinical trial of pregnenolone in Veterans with anxiety and depression symptoms. Pregnenolone has minimal side effects, and the prior research demonstrates that pregnenolone is well-tolerated by Veterans. Treatment with pregnenolone could thus be an efficacious new therapeutic for Veterans experiencing depression, anxiety, poor sleep quality and chronic pain conditions.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria5
- Veterans enrolled for care at the Durham VAHCS
- Veterans who score a minimum score of 20 or higher (moderate symptoms) on the PHQ-ADS (Kroenke et al 2017)
- Oral pregnenolone could reduce the effectiveness of oral contraceptives, thus women will be required to use a medically and study-approved contraceptive or otherwise not be of child-bearing potential. Birth control methods must be non-hormonal
- No anticipated need to alter psychiatric medications for duration of study involvement
- Ability to participate fully in the informed consent process
Exclusion Criteria12
- History of allergy to PREG
- Medical disorders that may preclude safe administration of PREG or exacerbate mental or physical health symptoms
- PTSD diagnosis, as per the PCL-5, scores of 38 or higher
- Current suicidal or homicidal ideation necessitating clinical intervention or representing an imminent concern
- Prior attempts or suicidal ideation that does not require clinical intervention or represent an imminent concern is permitted
- Serious unstable medical illness, such as history of cerebrovascular accident, prostate, uterine or breast cancer, others (at the discretion of the PI and medical oversight team)
- Standard pharmacological interventions for mental health disorders will not be exclusionary; however, there may be no changes in psychotropic medications for mental or physical health conditions 4 weeks prior to study randomization
- Benzodiazepine or opioid use
- Current diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder, or cognitive disorder due to a general medical condition other than mild TBI (assessed at screening)
- Initiation or change in psychotherapy within 3 months of randomization (i.e., psychotherapy must be stable for 3 months prior to study start
- Due to lack of safety data in pregnant and breast-feeding women, female participants who are pregnant or breast-feeding will be excluded
- As indicated by the DSM-5, moderate or severe Substance Use Disorders (excluding caffeine and tobacco) within 1 month of study entry
Interventions
Pregnenolone 250 mg BID x 14 DAYS, followed by Pregnenolone 500 mg BID x 14 DAYS, followed by Pregnenolone 1000 mg BID x thereafter for the remainder of the 8-week trial.
Same as active comparator, except placebo dispensed
Locations(1)
View Full Details on ClinicalTrials.gov
For the most up-to-date information, visit the official listing.
NCT06188923