Trial to Study the Benefit of Colchicine in Patients With COVID-19

Phase 3

Completed

• Conditions: COVID19
• Interventions: Drug: Colchicine Tablets; Drug: Standard therapy for COVID-19 according to the stablished hospital protocols.

• Registration Number: NCT04350320
• Lead Sponsor: Fundacion para la Formacion e Investigacion Sanitarias de la Region de Murcia

Brief Summary

COVID-19 is associated with a cytokine storm that leads to respiratory distress, multiorgan failure and elevated mortality. Oral colchicine exhibits high anti-inflammatory capacity attributed to the inhibition of microtubules polymerization, inflammasome and production of IL-1β and IL-6, which could prevent the inflammatory storm in COVID-19 patients at risk. We present a randomized clinical trial, controlled, open-label and pragmatic, including COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization but no intensive care yet. Colchicine will be started within the first 48 hours and then administered for four weeks using a descending dose. The benefit will be study in terms of clinical evolution (WHO 7-point scale) and IL-6 levels, as well as other clinical and biochemical secondary end-points. In the case of positive results, the clinical impact would be relevant given that this oral medication is widely accessible which would help to prevent the inflammatory complications associated with COVID-19.

Detailed Description

This is a Phase III, prospective, pragmatic, randomized, controlled and open-label trial, comparing standard of care vs. standard of care plus COLCHICINE for four weeks, in patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 and confirmed infection by SARSCov2, within the first 48 hours after the hospital admission. Patients meeting severity criteria will be excluded, defined as established limitation of therapeutic effort or need for invasive mechanical ventilation at the time of inclusion. The colchicine treatment includes an initial dose of 1.5 mg (1 mg and 0.5 mg two hours after), followed by 0.5 mg every 12 hours during the next 7 days and 0.5 mg every 24 hours until the completion of 28 days of total treatment. In patients receiving ritonavir or lopinavir or with reduced renal clearance (\<50 ml/min/1.37m2), weight \<70 kg or age \>75 years old, the dose will be adjusted to the half.

Patients meeting all the inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion ones (see below), after signing the informed consent, will be centrally randomized to "colchicine" or "control" group. Patients in both groups will receive the standard therapy for COVID-19 according to the stablished hospital protocols. Randomization will be controlled by: age, sex, time from initiation of symptoms, cardiovascular disease, the 7 point WHO and levels of C-reactive protein, ferritin, D-dimer, IL-6 and lymphocyte levels.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2020-04-14
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-04-16
• Study First Posted: 2020-04-17
• Study Start: 2020-04-30
• Primary Completion: 2020-10-20
• Study Completion: 2020-12-30
• Status Verified: 2021-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-01-11
• Last Update Posted: 2021-01-12

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 102

Inclusion Criteria

1. SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by PCR.
2. Admitted in the hospital in the previous 48 hours, with clinical status 3, 4 or 5 of WHO classification.
3. Age above 18 years old.
4. Informed written consent.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Invasive mechanical ventilation needed.
2. Established limitation of the therapeutic effort
3. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD: Chron Syndrome or Ulcerative colitis), chronic diarrhea or malabsorption.
4. Previous neuromuscular disease.
5. Other disease with an estimated vital prognosis under 1 year.
6. Severe renal insufficiency (glomerular filtration rate <30 mL/min/1.73m2)
7. Medical records of cirrhosis, active chronic hepatitis or severe hepatic disease defined by GOT or GPT levels three times above the normal upper limit.
8. Patients with previous colchicine treatment for other diseases (mainly chronic prescriptions for familial Mediterranean fever or gout). Clearance period will not be required for patients treated with colchicine who stopped the treatment before the randomization.
9. Patients with history of allergic reaction or significant sensitivity to colchicine.
10. Treatment with immunosuppressive agents, corticoids or interleukine-1 antagonists for 6 months before inclusion.
11. Pregnant or breastfeeding female, confirmed by a positive result in the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) test.
12. Fertile woman, or post-menopausal during less than one year and non-surgically sterilized. Women of fertile age may be included if using at least one contraceptive method and preferably two complementary contraceptive methods.
13. Use of other investigational drugs in the moment of inclusion, or during 30 days previous to inclusion.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
COLCHICINE	Colchicine Tablets	The colchicine treatment includes an initial dose of 1.5 mg (1 mg and 0.5 mg two hours after), followed by 0.5 mg every 12 hours during the next 7 days and 0.5 mg every 24 hours until the completion of 28 days of total treatment. In patients receiving ritonavir or lopinavir or with reduced renal clearance (\<50 ml/min/1.37m2), weight \<70 kg or age \>75 years old, the dose will be adjusted to the half. + standard therapy for COVID-19 according to the stablished hospital protocols.
COLCHICINE	Standard therapy for COVID-19 according to the stablished hospital protocols.	The colchicine treatment includes an initial dose of 1.5 mg (1 mg and 0.5 mg two hours after), followed by 0.5 mg every 12 hours during the next 7 days and 0.5 mg every 24 hours until the completion of 28 days of total treatment. In patients receiving ritonavir or lopinavir or with reduced renal clearance (\<50 ml/min/1.37m2), weight \<70 kg or age \>75 years old, the dose will be adjusted to the half. + standard therapy for COVID-19 according to the stablished hospital protocols.
control group	Standard therapy for COVID-19 according to the stablished hospital protocols.	Standard therapy for COVID-19 according to the stablished hospital protocols.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Changes in the patients' clinical status through the 7 points ordinal scale WHO R&D Blueprint expert group	7,14,28 Days	improve in the clinical evolution of patients hospitalized
Changes in IL-6 concentrations	up to day 28.	improve in the clinical evolution of patients hospitalized

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Improvement in the clinical status	up to day 28.	time needed to reduce at least 2 points in the 7-point Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement by WHO R\&D Blueprint expert group (0-7)
Changes in the score for the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA score)	up to day 28.	Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA score) (0-14)
Changes in the punctuation in the National Early Warning Score	up to day 28.	National Early Warning Score (NEWS scale
Number of days with invasive mechanical ventilation	up to day 28.
Mortality	up to day 28	Mortality
Number of days with high flow oxygen therapy	up to day 28.
Changes in other inflammatory markers	up to day 28	IL-1β
Changes in severity markers	up to day 28	ferritin
Changes in myocardial damage	up to day 28	myocardial stress markers NT-proBNP
Time until reaching a virus negative status	up to day 28	RT-PCR assay
Length of hospital stay	up to day 28	Length of hospital stay
Number of days in the intensive care unit.	up to day 28	Number of days in the intensive care unit.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Virgen de la Arrixaca University Clinical Hospital; 🇪🇸 Murcia, Spain