Graves' disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism in the United States, affecting about 1 in 200 people. Current treatments — antithyroid drugs, radioactive iodine, or surgery — all work by reducing or eliminating thyroid function, often leaving people dependent on lifelong thyroid hormone replacement.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing drugs that target the immune attack itself, including monoclonal antibodies and small molecules that may stop the disease without destroying the thyroid. Researchers are also studying treatments for thyroid eye disease, which affects about one-third of people with Graves' disease and can progress even after thyroid levels normalize.
Immune-targeting therapies
Several drugs aim to block the antibodies that drive Graves' disease, potentially allowing the thyroid to recover instead of being destroyed. Early trials suggest some people may achieve remission without permanent hypothyroidism.
Thyroid eye disease treatments
Teprotumumab, an IGF-1 receptor antibody, was FDA-approved in 2020 for thyroid eye disease and reduces eye bulging in many patients. Additional drugs targeting the same pathway are now in trials.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on disease activity, thyroid hormone levels, presence of eye disease, and whether you've tried antithyroid drugs before.
What types of trials are currently open
- Immune therapy trials — Testing antibodies or small molecules that target the immune system's attack on the thyroid, aiming to induce remission without destroying the gland.
- Thyroid eye disease trials — Studies of drugs that reduce eye inflammation, bulging, and double vision in people with active thyroid eye disease.
- Combination therapy trials — Testing whether adding an immune drug to standard antithyroid medication improves remission rates compared to antithyroid drugs alone.
- Biomarker studies — Research tracking antibody levels and other markers to predict who will achieve remission and who may need more aggressive treatment.
Recently added Graves' Disease trials
Comparative Evaluation of 68Ga-FAPI and 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT and PET/MRI in Thyroid Eye Disease
Thyroid eye disease is an autoimmune disorder that can cause inflammation and fibrosis of the extraocular muscles and orbital tissues. Accurate assessment of disease activity is important for treatment planning, but commonly used clinical scores and conventional imaging each have limitations. This prospective single-center cohort study will evaluate two molecular imaging approaches, gallium-68-labeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (68Ga-FAPI) PET/CT and PET/MR and gallium-68 DOTATATE somatostatin receptor PET/CT and PET/MR, in adults with thyroid eye disease and in a control group without thyroid-related or orbital disease. The study will compare visual and quantitative imaging findings, including maximum standardized uptake value and target-to-background ratio in the extraocular muscles, and examine their associations with clinical activity score and extraocular muscle thickness. The study aims to characterize the ability of these imaging methods, separately and in combination, to assess thyroid eye disease activity.
Take a targeted therapy being tested for thyroid eye disease
The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of linsitinib in participants with moderate to severe Thyroid Eye Disease (TED).
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