A Pragmatic Trial With Optimized Dose of Rifampicin and Moxifloxacin for the Treatment of Drug Susceptible Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Summary

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health problem, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. Approximately 10 million people fall sick with TB, causing up to 2 million deaths, worldwide per year. Considerable progress was made in TB control from 1990-2015, motivating the World Health Organization (WHO) to launch an ambitious EndTB strategy. However, the effect of the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has been devastating and the last two years have seen the first year-on-year increases (of 5.6%) in TB mortality since 2005 . In order to regain lost ground, and re-establish progress towards elimination of TB, innovation is needed in all aspects of TB control, including development of shorter treatment regimens for drug susceptible (DS) and multi-drug resistant / rifampicin resistant (MDR/RR) forms of the disease. This protocol seeks to conduct the TB clinical trial combining the 8-methoxyfluroquinolone and optimised dose of rifamycing to address two questions. The first is to confirm the non-inferiority of a four-month optimised dose rifamycin and moxifloxacin-based regimen amongst African TB patient populations with high rates of co-incident HIV. Secondly, we seek to establish that the rifamycin of choice in potent 4-month anti-TB treatments could be rifampicin as this will be more rapidly up-scalable for public health impact.

Timeline

Start

2023-08-11

Primary completion

2025-12-31

Completion

2026-03-31

Publications

• Background World Health Organization. Global Tuberculosis Report 2021. World Health Organisation 2021.https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240037021
• Background World Health Organisation. WHO End TB Strategy: Global strategy and targets for tuberculosis prevention, care and control after 2015. World Health Organization 2021. https://www.who.int/tb/strategy/End_TB_Strategy.pdf
• Background Pai M, Kasaeva T, Swaminathan S. Covid-19's Devastating Effect on Tuberculosis Care - A Path to Recovery. N Engl J Med. 2022 Apr 21;386(16):1490-1493. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2118145. Epub 2022 Jan 5. No abstract available.
• Background Boeree MJ, Diacon AH, Dawson R, Narunsky K, du Bois J, Venter A, Phillips PP, Gillespie SH, McHugh TD, Hoelscher M, Heinrich N, Rehal S, van Soolingen D, van Ingen J, Magis-Escurra C, Burger D, Plemper van Balen G, Aarnoutse RE; PanACEA Consortium. A dose-ranging trial to optimize the dose of rifampin in the treatment of tuberculosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 May 1;191(9):1058-65. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201407-1264OC.
• Background Te Brake LHM, de Jager V, Narunsky K, Vanker N, Svensson EM, Phillips PPJ, Gillespie SH, Heinrich N, Hoelscher M, Dawson R, Diacon AH, Aarnoutse RE, Boeree MJ; PanACEA Consortium. Increased bactericidal activity but dose-limiting intolerability at 50 mg.kg-1 rifampicin. Eur Respir J. 2021 Jul 8;58(1):2000955. doi: 10.1183/13993003.00955-2020. Print 2021 Jul.
• Background Boeree MJ, Heinrich N, Aarnoutse R, Diacon AH, Dawson R, Rehal S, Kibiki GS, Churchyard G, Sanne I, Ntinginya NE, Minja LT, Hunt RD, Charalambous S, Hanekom M, Semvua HH, Mpagama SG, Manyama C, Mtafya B, Reither K, Wallis RS, Venter A, Narunsky K, Mekota A, Henne S, Colbers A, van Balen GP, Gillespie SH, Phillips PPJ, Hoelscher M; PanACEA consortium. High-dose rifampicin, moxifloxacin, and SQ109 for treating tuberculosis: a multi-arm, multi-stage randomised controlled trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2017 Jan;17(1):39-49. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(16)30274-2. Epub 2016 Oct 26.
• Background Dorman SE, Nahid P, Kurbatova EV, Phillips PPJ, Bryant K, Dooley KE, Engle M, Goldberg SV, Phan HTT, Hakim J, Johnson JL, Lourens M, Martinson NA, Muzanyi G, Narunsky K, Nerette S, Nguyen NV, Pham TH, Pierre S, Purfield AE, Samaneka W, Savic RM, Sanne I, Scott NA, Shenje J, Sizemore E, Vernon A, Waja Z, Weiner M, Swindells S, Chaisson RE; AIDS Clinical Trials Group; Tuberculosis Trials Consortium. Four-Month Rifapentine Regimens with or without Moxifloxacin for Tuberculosis. N Engl J Med. 2021 May 6;384(18):1705-1718. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2033400.
• Background World Health Organization. WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis Module 4: Drug-susceptible tuberculosis treatment. World Health Organization 2022 https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240048126
• Mlyuka HJ, Liyoyo A, Nyaulingo B, Mpolya E, Kaswaga OL, Semvua H, Lwambura S, McHugh TD, Wildner L, Sabiiti W, Adegbite BR, Nliwasa M, Khosa C, Mbelele P, Mbeya B, Jeremiah K, Boeree MJ, Gillespie SH, Sloan DJ, Mpagama SG; SimpliciTB Consortium. A pragmatic trial with an optimized dose of rifampicin and moxifloxacin for the treatment of drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis: a study protocol for open-label, randomized phase III trial (OptiRiMoxTB). Trials. 2026 Jan 30;27(1):182. doi: 10.1186/s13063-026-09466-0.

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