Effectiveness and Safety of Medical Treatment for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in Colombia

Summary

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is characterized by significant morbidity and mortality. Treatments have been administered to patients with COVID-19 in order to control viral infection, among them: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), Lopinavir/Ritonavir (Lop/r), Remdesivir, Favipavir, Emtricitabine/ Tenofovir acting over bacterial co-infection Azithromycin (Azithro), or modifying the inflammatory response of the host (Tocilizumab, colchicine, dexamethasone, and by other mechanisms (rosuvastatin). Except for dexamethasone clinical trials offer conflicting evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of therapies. Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness and safety of pharmacological therapies used to treat adult patients with COVID-19. Methods: Pragmatic randomized controlled trial. Study population: Adults aged 18 years or over with a positive real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or with high suspicion of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV-2 (SARS CoV-2) and diagnosis of mild, severe or critical pneumonia, requiring hospital management at six hospitals in Colombia. Exclusion criteria: Pregnancy, known allergy to treatment, cirrhosis or hepatic abnormality (transaminases greater than 5 reference values), glomerular filtration rate lesser than 30 ml/min/1.73m\^2, history of lung fibrosis, advanced or metastatic cancer. A sample size was calculated from a sensitivity analysis with three scenarios: scenario 1 a total of 1,163 patients, that is, 291 per treatment arm with alpha of Alpha = 0.05; power 0.8; Prop1 = 0.2 and Prop2 = 0.1 (expected difference of 10%) and 10% of possible losses,scenario 2. With the previous parameters and with a Prop1 = 0.15 and Prop2 = 0.05 for a total of 814 patients (204 per arm of treatment). scenario 3. With Alpha = 0.1, Prop1 = 0.15 and Prop2 = 0.05, the other previous parameters, for a total of 686 patients (172 per treatment). in scenario 1 the study will be carried out in two phases. The first phase will be conducted with 400 participants and aims to identify treatments with higher or minimum potential, discontinue treatments with higher toxicity, and have the opportunity of introducing new treatments with potential efficacy. The second phase will be conducted with 1,163 participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the selected treatments. Four interventions have been defined: I1 Emtricitabine/ teneofovir , I2 Colchicine plus rosuvastatin, I3 Emtricitabine/ teneofovir plus Colchicine plus rosuvastatin and I4 standard treatment. Within each institution, participants will be randomly assigned to one of the treatment arms assigned to that institution. Concealment will be kept through software that maintain the assignment concealed until the random assignment is done . Treatment administration will be open. Variables: Sociodemographic and clinical at recruitment; (comorbidities, need for therapeutic support , grade of invasion at admission). Primary outcomes. Effectiveness: Mortality. Safety: Serious adverse events (AE) assessed by the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) Guidance for Collection of Adverse Events Related to COVID-19 Infection. Secondary outcomes: Intensive care unit (ICU) admission, requirement of respiratory support, time to death, number of participants cured, any adverse event related to treatment. Analysis: Descriptive for the presentation of summary measures of the basal conditions by type of variable. Bivariate. Description of the basal conditions (with organic failure at admission, without failure at admission), by type of treatment, by participating institution. Description of crude effectiveness and safety by means of the difference of accumulated incidences, each one with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) Intention to treat analyisis will be done. Adjusted analysis: The ratio and difference of cumulative incidences of mortality at 7 and 28 days and severe adverse events between treatments will be estimated, adjusting for confounding variables using logistic regression models with mixed effects considering each institution as a level or from equations. generalized estimation (GEE). On the other hand, as part of the pragmatic approach, the surface under cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) will be calculated based on Bayesian theory to define which drug has the highest probability of being the most useful in the management of infection. Ethical considerations: The study has a risk beyond minimum according to the Resolution 8430/1993 of the Colombian Ministry of Health. Informed consent will be explained and signed if the patient is in condition to do so. This protocol will undergo evaluation by the ethics committee at each of the participating institutions and at the National University of Colombia. The protocol follows the Helsinki Declaration and institutional protocols for clinical investigation.

Timeline

Start

2020-08-18

Primary completion

2021-03-20

Completion

2021-06-30

Publications

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Drugs

Indications