Azithromycin Added to Hydrochloroquine in Patients Admitted to Intensive Care With COVID-19: Randomised Controlled Trial (AZIQUINE-ICU)
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04339816 |
Recruitment Status :
Terminated
(Steering Committee decision in accordance with stopping rule 1: Emergence of new data)
First Posted : April 9, 2020
Last Update Posted : November 6, 2020
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Trial design: Prospective, multi-centre, randomised, pragmatic, double blind trial
Methods:
Participants: Adult (>18 years) within 24 hours of admission to intensive care unit with proven or suspected COVID-19 infection, whether or not mechanically ventilated. Exclusion criteria: symptoms of febrile disease for ≥1 week, treatment limitations in place or moribund patients, allergy or intolerance of any study treatment, incl. long QT syndromes, participation in another outcome-based interventional trial within last 30 days, patients taking Hydrochloroquine for other indication than COVID-19, pregnancy.
Interventions: Patients will be randomised in 1:1:1 ratio to receive Hydrochloroquine 800mg orally in two doses followed by 400mg daily in two doses and Azithromycin 500 mg orally in one dose followed by 250 mg in one dose for a total of 5 days (HC-A group) or Hydrochloroquine+ placebo (HC group) or placebo + placebo (C-group) in addition to best standard of care, which may evolve during the trial period but will not differ between groups.
Objective: To test the hypothesis that early administration of combination therapy slows disease progression and improves mechanical-ventilation free survival.
Outcomes:
Primary outcome: Composite percentage of patients alive and not on end-of-life pathway who are free of mechanical ventilation at day 14.
Secondary outcomes:
Composite percentage of patients alive and not on end-of-life pathway who are free of mechanical ventilation at day 14 in the subgroup of patients without the need of mechanical ventilation at baseline.
ICU-LOS D28 and D 90 mortality (in hospital)
Tertiary (exploratory) outcomes:
Viral load at D7 of study enrolment (No of viral RNA copies/ml of blood), proportion of patients alive and rtPCR negative from nasal swab at D14, Difference of FiO2 requirement and respiratory system compliance between day 0 and 7.
Randomization: In 1:1:1 ratio and stratified according to study centre and patients age (cut-off 70 years) Blinding (masking): Patients, treating clinicians, outcome assessors and data analyst will be blinded to study treatment allocation. Unblinded study pharmacist or research nurse will prepare investigational products.
Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
---|---|---|
COVID-19 Respiratory Failure | Drug: Azithromycin Drug: Hydroxychloroquine Drug: Placebo | Phase 3 |

Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Actual Enrollment : | 3 participants |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Intervention Model: | Parallel Assignment |
Intervention Model Description: | Prospective, multi-centre, randomised, pragmatic, double blind trial |
Masking: | Triple (Participant, Care Provider, Outcomes Assessor) |
Masking Description: | Visually unrecognisable IP or placebo will be prepared by dedicated unblinded study pharmacist and handed over to care provider immediately before administration |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Azithromycin Added to Hydrochloroquine in Patients Admitted to Intensive Care Due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)- Randomised Controlled Trial |
Actual Study Start Date : | May 13, 2020 |
Actual Primary Completion Date : | November 4, 2020 |
Actual Study Completion Date : | November 4, 2020 |

Arm | Intervention/treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: HC-A group
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Drug: Azithromycin
orally or into nasogastric tube for 5 days Drug: Hydroxychloroquine orally or into nasogastric tube for 5 days |
Active Comparator: HC group
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Drug: Hydroxychloroquine
orally or into nasogastric tube for 5 days Drug: Placebo orally or into nasogastric tube for 5 days
Other Name: aqua pro injectione |
Placebo Comparator: C group
• Day 1-5: Patients receive two doses of placebo in 12 hours interval and 1 extra dose of placebo once in 24 hours
|
Drug: Placebo
orally or into nasogastric tube for 5 days
Other Name: aqua pro injectione |
- Proportion of alive patients free off mechanical ventilation [ Time Frame: 14 days after enrolment ]Composite percentage of patients alive and not on end-of-life pathway who are free of mechanical ventilation at day 14.
- Proportion of patients who avoided the need of mechanical ventilation [ Time Frame: 14 days ]Composite percentage of patients alive and not on end-of-life pathway who are free of mechanical ventilation at day 14 in the subgroup of patients without the need of mechanical ventilation at baseline.
- ICU LOS [ Time Frame: 28 days ]Length of stay in intensive care unit
- Mortality28 [ Time Frame: 28 days ]Proportion of patients who died by day 28
- Mortality90 [ Time Frame: 90 days ]Proportion of patients who died by day 90

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
- Adult (>18 years) within 24 hours of admission to intensive care unit with proven or suspected COVID-19 infection. For the purpose of this study, intensive care unit is defined as a facility that allow continuous monitoring of vital functions and oxygen administration . It is expected that most patients will have rtPCR test known within 24 hours of admission to hospital. Nonetheless, if this is not the case (eg. due to overloaded lab facility, lack of supplies) it is possible to randomise a patient based on a strong clinical suspicion of SARS-Cov-2 infection. In case COVID-19 is not confirmed in retrospect, experimental therapy is withdrawn and the study subject is withdrawn from "per protocol" analysis of the primary and secondary outcomes, but remains in "intention-to-treat" cohort for the analysis of safety.
Exclusion Criteria:
- symptoms of febrile disease for ≥1 week, pregnancy, treatment limitations in place or moribund patients, allergy or intolerance of any study treatment, incl. long QT syndromes, myasthenia gravis, allergies or known deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, participation in another outcome-based interventional trial within last 30 days, patients taking Hydrochloroquine for other indication than COVID-19.

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT04339816
Czechia | |
František Duška | |
Praha, Česká Republika, Czechia, 10034 |
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
Responsible Party: | Frantisek Duska, MD, PhD, Dr, Charles University, Czech Republic |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT04339816 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
AZIQUINE-ICU-25032020 2020-001456-18 ( EudraCT Number ) |
First Posted: | April 9, 2020 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | November 6, 2020 |
Last Verified: | November 2020 |
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement: | |
Plan to Share IPD: | Yes |
Plan Description: | Deidentified record-level data will be shared in a public database |
Supporting Materials: |
Study Protocol Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP) Informed Consent Form (ICF) Clinical Study Report (CSR) |
Time Frame: | within 6 months of study completion |
URL: | http://mendeley.com |
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: | No |
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: | No |
covid-19 Azithromycin Hydroxychloroquine Respiratory failure Intensive Care |
COVID-19 Respiratory Insufficiency Pneumonia, Viral Pneumonia Respiratory Tract Infections Infections Virus Diseases Coronavirus Infections Coronaviridae Infections Nidovirales Infections RNA Virus Infections Lung Diseases |
Respiratory Tract Diseases Respiration Disorders Azithromycin Hydroxychloroquine Anti-Bacterial Agents Anti-Infective Agents Antimalarials Antiprotozoal Agents Antiparasitic Agents Enzyme Inhibitors Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action Antirheumatic Agents |