Azithromycin Added to Hydrochloroquine in Patients Admitted to Intensive Care With COVID-19: Randomised Controlled Trial

Summary

Trial design: Prospective, multi-centre, randomised, pragmatic, double blind trial Methods: Participants: Adult (\>18 years) within 24 hours of admission to intensive care unit with proven or suspected COVID-19 infection, whether or not mechanically ventilated. Exclusion criteria: symptoms of febrile disease for ≥1 week, treatment limitations in place or moribund patients, allergy or intolerance of any study treatment, incl. long QT syndromes, participation in another outcome-based interventional trial within last 30 days, patients taking Hydrochloroquine for other indication than COVID-19, pregnancy. Interventions: Patients will be randomised in 1:1:1 ratio to receive Hydrochloroquine 800mg orally in two doses followed by 400mg daily in two doses and Azithromycin 500 mg orally in one dose followed by 250 mg in one dose for a total of 5 days (HC-A group) or Hydrochloroquine+ placebo (HC group) or placebo + placebo (C-group) in addition to best standard of care, which may evolve during the trial period but will not differ between groups. Objective: To test the hypothesis that early administration of combination therapy slows disease progression and improves mechanical-ventilation free survival. Outcomes: Primary outcome: Composite percentage of patients alive and not on end-of-life pathway who are free of mechanical ventilation at day 14. Secondary outcomes: Composite percentage of patients alive and not on end-of-life pathway who are free of mechanical ventilation at day 14 in the subgroup of patients without the need of mechanical ventilation at baseline. ICU-LOS D28 and D 90 mortality (in hospital) Tertiary (exploratory) outcomes: Viral load at D7 of study enrolment (No of viral RNA copies/ml of blood), proportion of patients alive and rtPCR negative from nasal swab at D14, Difference of FiO2 requirement and respiratory system compliance between day 0 and 7. Randomization: In 1:1:1 ratio and stratified according to study centre and patients age (cut-off 70 years) Blinding (masking): Patients, treating clinicians, outcome assessors and data analyst will be blinded to study treatment allocation. Unblinded study pharmacist or research nurse will prepare investigational products.

Timeline

Start

2020-05-13

Primary completion

2020-11-04

Completion

2020-11-04

Publications

• Background Zhou F, Yu T, Du R, Fan G, Liu Y, Liu Z, Xiang J, Wang Y, Song B, Gu X, Guan L, Wei Y, Li H, Wu X, Xu J, Tu S, Zhang Y, Chen H, Cao B. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet. 2020 Mar 28;395(10229):1054-1062. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30566-3. Epub 2020 Mar 11.
• Background Wang M, Cao R, Zhang L, Yang X, Liu J, Xu M, Shi Z, Hu Z, Zhong W, Xiao G. Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro. Cell Res. 2020 Mar;30(3):269-271. doi: 10.1038/s41422-020-0282-0. Epub 2020 Feb 4. No abstract available.
• Background Colson P, Rolain JM, Lagier JC, Brouqui P, Raoult D. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as available weapons to fight COVID-19. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2020 Apr;55(4):105932. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105932. Epub 2020 Mar 4. No abstract available.
• Background Yao X, Ye F, Zhang M, Cui C, Huang B, Niu P, Liu X, Zhao L, Dong E, Song C, Zhan S, Lu R, Li H, Tan W, Liu D. In Vitro Antiviral Activity and Projection of Optimized Dosing Design of Hydroxychloroquine for the Treatment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Jul 28;71(15):732-739. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa237.
• Background Gautret P, Lagier JC, Parola P, Hoang VT, Meddeb L, Mailhe M, Doudier B, Courjon J, Giordanengo V, Vieira VE, Tissot Dupont H, Honore S, Colson P, Chabriere E, La Scola B, Rolain JM, Brouqui P, Raoult D. RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2020 Jul;56(1):105949. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105949. Epub 2020 Mar 20.
• Background Wang D, Hu B, Hu C, Zhu F, Liu X, Zhang J, Wang B, Xiang H, Cheng Z, Xiong Y, Zhao Y, Li Y, Wang X, Peng Z. Clinical Characteristics of 138 Hospitalized Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA. 2020 Mar 17;323(11):1061-1069. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.1585.
• Background Arentz M, Yim E, Klaff L, Lokhandwala S, Riedo FX, Chong M, Lee M. Characteristics and Outcomes of 21 Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 in Washington State. JAMA. 2020 Apr 28;323(16):1612-1614. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.4326.
• Duska F, Waldauf P, Halacova M, Zvonicek V, Bala J, Balik M, Benes J, Klementova O, Kozakova I, Kubricht V, Le Roy A, Vymazal T, Rehorova V, Cerny V; Czech Anaesthesia Clinical Trials and Audit Network. Azithromycin added to hydroxychloroquine for patients admitted to intensive care due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-protocol of randomised controlled trial AZIQUINE-ICU. Trials. 2020 Jul 8;21(1):631. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04566-x.

Drugs

Indications