STerOids in COVID-19 Study

Summary

At the time of writing (3/4/2020), close to a million people have been infected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus around the world. The severe clinical condition that leads to deaths is now called CoVID-19. Currently, there are no effective treatments for the early or late stages of this illness. Governments worldwide have undertaken dramatic interventions to try and reduce the rate of spread of this deadly coronavirus. Early data from multiple studies in China, where the virus originated, show that severe cases of CoVID-19 are not as prevalent in patients with chronic lung diseases as expected. This data has been confirmed by the Italian physicians. The investigators think that the widespread use of inhaled corticosteroids reduces the risk of CoVID-19 pneumonia in patients with chronic lung disease. Early microbiological data also shows that these corticosteroids are effective at slowing down the rate of coronavirus replication on lung cells. Inhaled corticosteroids are widely used to manage common lung conditions, such as asthma. This type of medicine is among the top 3 most common medication prescribed around the world. Their safety is well understood, and their potential side effects are mild and reversible. The investigators propose to test this idea that, in participants early in the course of CoVID-19 illness, daily high dose inhaled corticosteroids for 28 days, will reduce the chances of severe respiratory illness needing hospitalisation. We will also study the effect of this inhaled therapy on symptoms and viral load.

Timeline

Start

2020-07-16

Primary completion

2021-01-12

Completion

2021-01-12

Publications

• Cass SP, Nicolau DV Jr, Baker JR, Mwasuku C, Ramakrishnan S, Mahdi M, Barnes PJ, Donnelly LE, Martinez-Nunez RT, Russell REK, Bafadhel M. Coordinated nasal mucosa-mediated immunity accelerates recovery from COVID-19. ERJ Open Res. 2024 May 13;10(3):00919-2023. doi: 10.1183/23120541.00919-2023. eCollection 2024 May.
• Baker JR, Mahdi M, Nicolau DV Jr, Ramakrishnan S, Barnes PJ, Simpson JL, Cass SP, Russell REK, Donnelly LE, Bafadhel M. Early Th2 inflammation in the upper respiratory mucosa as a predictor of severe COVID-19 and modulation by early treatment with inhaled corticosteroids: a mechanistic analysis. Lancet Respir Med. 2022 Jun;10(6):545-556. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00002-9. Epub 2022 Apr 7.
• Ramakrishnan S, Nicolau DV Jr, Langford B, Mahdi M, Jeffers H, Mwasuku C, Krassowska K, Fox R, Binnian I, Glover V, Bright S, Butler C, Cane JL, Halner A, Matthews PC, Donnelly LE, Simpson JL, Baker JR, Fadai NT, Peterson S, Bengtsson T, Barnes PJ, Russell REK, Bafadhel M. Inhaled budesonide in the treatment of early COVID-19 (STOIC): a phase 2, open-label, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2021 Jul;9(7):763-772. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00160-0. Epub 2021 Apr 9.
• Farne H, Singanayagam A. Reply. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 Mar;147(3):1117-1118. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2020.11.019. Epub 2020 Dec 30. No abstract available.
• Nicolau DV, Bafadhel M. Inhaled corticosteroids in virus pandemics: a treatment for COVID-19? Lancet Respir Med. 2020 Sep;8(9):846-847. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30314-3. Epub 2020 Jul 30. No abstract available.

Drugs

Indications