Tier 1 — highest

N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) augmentation in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A phase III, 20-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Jerome Sarris, Gerard Byrne, David Castle, Chad Bousman, Georgina Oliver, Lachlan Cribb, Scott Blair-West, Vlasios Brakoulias, David Camfield, Carolyn Ee, Suneel Chamoli, Mark Boschen, Olivia M Dean, Nathan Dowling, Ranjit Menon, Jenifer Murphy, Najwa-Joelle Metri, Thomas P Nguyen, Andrew Wong, Rebecca Jordan, Diana Karamacoska, Susan L Rossell, Michael Berk, Chee H Ng
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2022 117:110550

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 35304155
DOI
10.1016/j.pnpbp.2022.110550
Funding
Funding disclosure was not located in the indexed record reviewed; consult the source publication for the full funding statement.
Competing interests
Competing-interest disclosure was not located in the indexed record reviewed; consult the source publication for the full declaration.

Study snapshot

DesignPhase III multisite randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial
ModelHuman
Sample98 participants
InterventionAdjunctive NAC 2-4 g/day versus placebo
Duration20 weeks
EndpointsOCD symptom severity; Response; Safety

What the study showed, in plain terms

Largest rigorous Phase III test of NAC augmentation in OCD.

Key findings

NAC did not show a clinically meaningful advantage over placebo on the primary OCD outcome.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Adjunctive treatment setting and protocol-specific population; negative result weighs heavily against overgeneralizing smaller positive studies.

Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified

Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction Dr. Amr Yasser, PhDCardiometabolic, Musculoskeletal, Gut & Bioavailability Dr. Abdulla Mostafa, PhDCellular Senescence, Neurological, Mitochondrial & Brain-Ageing Biology