Uniform Multidrug Therapy Regimen for Leprosy Patients

Summary

The purpose of this randomized trial is to verify if leprosy patients, despite of their classification, can be treated with the same regimen without compromising patient cure and acceptability of the treatment. At present, patients classified as multibacillary leprosy are treated for 12 months with three drugs, and patients classified as paucibacillary leprosy are treated for 6 months with two drugs. The study is going to test a unified regimen for paucibacillary and multibacillary patients by treating leprosy patients with three drugs for 6 doses.

Timeline

Start

2007-02

Primary completion

2012-09

Completion

2016-12-31

Publications

• Background Becx-Bleumink M. Relapses among leprosy patients treated with multidrug therapy: experience in the leprosy control program of the All Africa Leprosy and Rehabilitation Training Center (ALERT) in Ethiopia; practical difficulties with diagnosing relapses; operational procedures and criteria for diagnosing relapses. Int J Lepr Other Mycobact Dis. 1992 Sep;60(3):421-35.
• Background Britton WJ, Lockwood DN. Leprosy. Lancet. 2004 Apr 10;363(9416):1209-19. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)15952-7.
• Background Buhrer-Sekula S, Smits HL, Gussenhoven GC, van Leeuwen J, Amador S, Fujiwara T, Klatser PR, Oskam L. Simple and fast lateral flow test for classification of leprosy patients and identification of contacts with high risk of developing leprosy. J Clin Microbiol. 2003 May;41(5):1991-5. doi: 10.1128/JCM.41.5.1991-1995.2003.
• Background Dasananjali K, Schreuder PA, Pirayavaraporn C. A study on the effectiveness and safety of the WHO/MDT regimen in the northeast of Thailand; a prospective study, 1984-1996. Int J Lepr Other Mycobact Dis. 1997 Mar;65(1):28-36.
• Background Jamet P, Ji B. Relapse after long-term follow up of multibacillary patients treated by WHO multidrug regimen. Marchoux Chemotherapy Study Group. Int J Lepr Other Mycobact Dis. 1995 Jun;63(2):195-201.
• Background Jesudasan K, Vijayakumaran P, Manimozhi N, Jeyarajan T, Rao PS. Absence of relapse within 4 years among 34 multibacillary patients with high BIs treated for 2 years with MDT. Int J Lepr Other Mycobact Dis. 1996 Jun;64(2):133-5.
• Background Li HY, Hu LF, Wu PW, Luo JS, Liu XM. Fixed-duration multidrug therapy in multibacillary leprosy. Int J Lepr Other Mycobact Dis. 1997 Jun;65(2):230-7.
• Background Li HY, Hu LF, Huang WB, Liu GC, Yuan LC, Jin Z, Li X, Li JL, Yang ZM. Risk of relapse in leprosy after fixed-duration multidrug therapy. Int J Lepr Other Mycobact Dis. 1997 Jun;65(2):238-45.
• Background Lockwood DN, Suneetha S. Leprosy: too complex a disease for a simple elimination paradigm. Bull World Health Organ. 2005 Mar;83(3):230-5. Epub 2005 Mar 16.
• Penna GO, Pontes MAA, Talhari S, Goncalves HS, Talhari C, Pessoa AS, Pedroza V, Buhrer-Sekula S, Stefani MMA, Penna MLF. Late relapses in leprosy patients in Brazil: 10-year post-trial of uniform multidrug therapy (U-MDT/CT-BR). Braz J Infect Dis. 2024 Mar-Apr;28(2):103745. doi: 10.1016/j.bjid.2024.103745. Epub 2024 Apr 30.
• Hungria EM, Buhrer-Sekula S, Oliveira RM, Aderaldo LC, Pontes MAA, Cruz R, de Goncalves HS, Penna MLF, Penna GO, Stefani MMA. Mycobacterium leprae-Specific Antibodies in Multibacillary Leprosy Patients Decrease During and After Treatment With Either the Regular 12 Doses Multidrug Therapy (MDT) or the Uniform 6 Doses MDT. Front Immunol. 2018 May 14;9:915. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00915. eCollection 2018.
• Penna GO, Buhrer-Sekula S, Kerr LRS, Stefani MMA, Rodrigues LC, de Araujo MG, Ramos AMC, de Andrade ARC, Costa MB, Rosa PS, Goncalves HS, Cruz R, Barreto ML, Pontes MAA, Penna MLF. Uniform multidrug therapy for leprosy patients in Brazil (U-MDT/CT-BR): Results of an open label, randomized and controlled clinical trial, among multibacillary patients. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Jul 13;11(7):e0005725. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005725. eCollection 2017 Jul.
• Hungria EM, Buhrer-Sekula S, de Oliveira RM, Aderaldo LC, Pontes AA, Cruz R, Goncalves HS, Penna ML, Penna GO, Stefani MM. Leprosy reactions: The predictive value of Mycobacterium leprae-specific serology evaluated in a Brazilian cohort of leprosy patients (U-MDT/CT-BR). PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Feb 21;11(2):e0005396. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005396. eCollection 2017 Feb.

Drugs

Indications