Repurposing Montelukast for the Attenuation and Prophylaxis of Severe COVID-19 Symptoms: The COvid-19 Symptom MOntelukast (COSMO) Trial

Objectives: Our overarching objective is to determine the efficacy of oral montelukast versus placebo in reducing the duration and severity of COVID-19 symptoms among newly infected at-risk adults in the outpatient setting using a randomized controlled trial. Our two primary objectives are to compare the efficacy of oral montelukast versus placebo in reducing:

1. Symptom severity during the first 14 days of follow-up as measured by differences in mean FluPro PLUS scores and blood oxygen saturation SpO2 levels; and in reducing
2. C-Reactive Protein a biomarker of inflammation associated with severe COVID, obtained on days 3, 6, 9, and 14 of follow-up.

Our 7 secondary objectives of the COSMO Trial include evaluating the efficacy of Montelukast in improving: i) Duration of symptoms; ii) Interleukin IL-6; iii) Hypoxemia; iv) Symptom severity during the first 21 and 30 days of follow-up; and v) Healthcare services use in the 6 months post infection (including MD visits).

Hypothesis & Preliminary Evidence: We hypothesize that repurposing Montelukast to target suppression of NF- KappaB activation in COVID-19 positive patients will result in a corresponding reduction of Pro-inflammatory mediators, thereby attenuating cytokine production, and taming the cytokine storm, improved blood oxygen saturation, a reduction in hypoxia, mitigation of severe COVID-19 symptoms, and serve as a therapeutic for SARS-CoV-2 infections. Published articles authored by Dr. Geoff Tranmer (study PI) and others provide details of this hypothesis. A retrospective analysis of 92 COVID-19 hospitalized patients conducted by our study collaborators in the USA and Belgium provides evidence that patients who had received montelukast experienced significantly fewer events of clinical deterioration compared to patients not receiving montelukast (10% vs 32%, p= 0.022). More compelling, however, is the fact that montelukast is presently being used by a growing number of clinicians around the world on a compassionate basis for their patients and is currently the standard for COVID-19 patient care in some parts of the world.

Methods and Approaches: The COvid-19 Symptom Montelukast Outpatient (COSMO) Trial will be a parallel assignment, phase II, quadruple blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of Montelukast for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The study will include 250 recently infected pregnant or older adult outpatients at risk of severe disease who will be randomized to receive either treatment (20mg oral Montelukast) or matched placebo once daily, for 21 to 30 consecutive days. Patient symptoms will be monitored daily for a period of 30 days, after which follow-up will continue for an additional 60 days for outcomes such as duration of symptoms, resilience, functional status, quality of life. Healthcare services use will be evaluated at 6 months post enrollment. The study will be conducted at the Segal Cancer Center and at Quebec Primary Care Medicine Clinics with the utilization of the McGill Primary Care Practice Based Research Network and the Segal Cancer Centre clinical trials infrastructure, with recruitment directly within participating clinics.