Evaluating Emetine for Viral Outbreaks (EVOLVE)

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial (phase 2/phase 3) is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of emetine administered orally for symptomatic Covid-19 patients in patients ages 30 years and above. Participants will be asked to: * Take Emetine 6mg orally for 10 consecutive days * Be monitored by healthcare staff or self-monitor for daily vital signs and symptoms * Undergo blood draws Researchers will compare the control group given placebo medicine to assess if emetine improved the symptoms of Covid-19.

Timeline

Start

2024-05-15

Primary completion

2025-12-15

Completion

2025-12-15

Outcome

Outcome not reported

Stopped (Enrollment): “The study was terminated due to insufficient participant enrollment resulting from a lower-than-expected number of COVID-19 cases”

Publications

• Background VEDDER, E.B. Origin and present status of the emetine treatment of amebic dysentery. JAMA. 1914;LXII (7):501-6. doi:10.1001/jama.1914.02560320001001.
• Background Bleasel MD, Peterson GM. Emetine Is Not Ipecac: Considerations for Its Use as Treatment for SARS-CoV2. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2020 Nov 27;13(12):428. doi: 10.3390/ph13120428.
• Background Bleasel MD, Peterson GM. Emetine, Ipecac, Ipecac Alkaloids and Analogues as Potential Antiviral Agents for Coronaviruses. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2020 Mar 21;13(3):51. doi: 10.3390/ph13030051.
• Background Jan JT, Cheng TR, Juang YP, Ma HH, Wu YT, Yang WB, Cheng CW, Chen X, Chou TH, Shie JJ, Cheng WC, Chein RJ, Mao SS, Liang PH, Ma C, Hung SC, Wong CH. Identification of existing pharmaceuticals and herbal medicines as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Feb 2;118(5):e2021579118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2021579118.
• Background Dyall J, Coleman CM, Hart BJ, Venkataraman T, Holbrook MR, Kindrachuk J, Johnson RF, Olinger GG Jr, Jahrling PB, Laidlaw M, Johansen LM, Lear-Rooney CM, Glass PJ, Hensley LE, Frieman MB. Repurposing of clinically developed drugs for treatment of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2014 Aug;58(8):4885-93. doi: 10.1128/AAC.03036-14. Epub 2014 May 19.
• Background Liu Q, Xia S, Sun Z, Wang Q, Du L, Lu L, Jiang S. Testing of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus replication inhibitors for the ability to block viral entry. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015 Jan;59(1):742-4. doi: 10.1128/AAC.03977-14. Epub 2014 Oct 20. No abstract available.
• Background Yang S, Xu M, Lee EM, Gorshkov K, Shiryaev SA, He S, Sun W, Cheng YS, Hu X, Tharappel AM, Lu B, Pinto A, Farhy C, Huang CT, Zhang Z, Zhu W, Wu Y, Zhou Y, Song G, Zhu H, Shamim K, Martinez-Romero C, Garcia-Sastre A, Preston RA, Jayaweera DT, Huang R, Huang W, Xia M, Simeonov A, Ming G, Qiu X, Terskikh AV, Tang H, Song H, Zheng W. Emetine inhibits Zika and Ebola virus infections through two molecular mechanisms: inhibiting viral replication and decreasing viral entry. Cell Discov. 2018 Jun 5;4:31. doi: 10.1038/s41421-018-0034-1. eCollection 2018.
• Background Mukhopadhyay R, Roy S, Venkatadri R, Su YP, Ye W, Barnaeva E, Mathews Griner L, Southall N, Hu X, Wang AQ, Xu X, Dulcey AE, Marugan JJ, Ferrer M, Arav-Boger R. Efficacy and Mechanism of Action of Low Dose Emetine against Human Cytomegalovirus. PLoS Pathog. 2016 Jun 23;12(6):e1005717. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005717. eCollection 2016 Jun.

Drugs

Indications