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Safety and Efficacy Study of Interferon to Treat Patients Hospitalized for Influenza

A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of IFN-alfacon1 (INFERGEN) in the Treatment of Hospitalized Patients Presenting With Influenza-like Illnesses Due to the Pandemic 2009 Swine Origin Influenza A Virus (S-OIV) H1N1 and Other Circulating Influenza Viruses

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
Phase 1Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT01227798
Enrollment
30
Registered
2010-10-25
Start date
2010-11-30
Completion date
2011-11-30
Last updated
2010-10-25

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Influenza

Keywords

influenza A, H1N1

Brief summary

A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of interferon-Alfacon1 (INFERGEN) in the treatment of patients hospitalized with Influenza-like illness caused by a novel swine origin Influenza virus and other circulating Influenza Viruses. The use of Interferon-alfacon1 as a co-treatment along with the standard of care antiviral is hypothesized to be safe. Clinical improvement of patients is hypothesized to be quicker.

Detailed description

The purpose of this study is to see if using a medication called INFERGEN, can help get rid of the virus and/or can help the immune response to prevent the illness from getting worse in the lungs. We hope that INFERGEN will either prevent patients from getting worse and requiring intensive care or will decrease the time for which they will need intensive care. The Interferon-alpha (also called Interferon-alphacon1 or IFN-alphacon1 or INFERGEN) is an immune molecule, which has been shown to work against different viruses (anti-viral). Interferon is the standard of treatment for patients with chronic (infection that has been there for a long time) hepatitis C (a virus which affects the liver over many years) by giving it for 6-12 months. It has also been used for a shorter time of up to 14 days, in a small study for patients with respiratory disease caused by SARS and seemed to help these patients get better more rapidly. It also has been shown to stop different Influenza viruses from growing in test tubes and in lung tissue. It has also been shown to decrease the immune response to prevent it from over-reacting to viruses.

Interventions

15 mcg at fill volume of 0.5mL

DRUGPlacebo

Normal Saline

Sponsors

University Health Network, Toronto
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Able to provide informed consent * Aged \>=18 and \< 70 * Hospitalized * suspect, probable, confirmed influenza A * symptom onset \<8 days * able to attend all scheduled visits

Exclusion criteria

* known hypersensitivity to interferon preparation * pregnancy * chronic liver disease * moderate to severe congestive heart failure, grade III or IV left ventricular function * previous history of serious psychiatric illness * history of severe or active autoimmune disease

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Frequency of Clinically Important (moderate or severe) and serious adverse eventsUp to two-months post-treatmentoccurrence, severity, time to onset, duration (number of days), seriousness, nature.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Virologic ClearanceDay 1,2-4,7,10,14, (21)Clearance and/or reduction in copies/mL of viral RNA as determined by PCR and/or quantitative real-time PCR in respiratory secretions (nasopharyngeal swab, throat swab, sputum, ETT aspirate BAL)
Cytokines and PBMCDay 1,2-4,7,10,14levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in serum.
Clinical ImprovementDuration of hospitalizationSOFA, LIS scores at baseline, 48hrs, 96hrs, day7. Days to defervesce, days of O2 requirement, days of cough, days hospitalized, days in ICU, days with ventilatory support, days on PEEP \>10cm H2O. Death all causes 28 days, Death all causes duration of study.

Countries

Canada

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026