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Effect of High Dose Intravenous Vitamin C in Severe Pneumonia

Effect of High Dose Intravenous Vitamin C as an Adjunct in the Treatment of Patients With Severe Pneumonia in Intensive Care Unit: a Multi-center, Double-blinded, Two-arm, Placebo-controlled, Randomized Trial

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05842382
Acronym
VICSEP
Enrollment
484
Registered
2023-05-06
Start date
2024-01-12
Completion date
2026-02-28
Last updated
2024-06-20

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

Conditions

Pneumonia

Keywords

Severe pneumonia, Critically ill, Ascorbic acid, Vitamin C, Mechanical ventilation, Ventilation-free day

Brief summary

This trial is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, two-arm, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial to investigate the effect of high dose intravenous (IV) Vitamin C as an adjunct to the standard of care for patients with severe pneumonia versus placebo in ICU.

Detailed description

Subjects will be randomized 1:1 to receive either high dose IV Vitamin C (12g/day) or placebo, every 6 hourly, until successful extubation (minimum 16 doses, maximum 40 doses). Placebo will be the equivalent volume of dextrose 5% given intravenously. Active drug or placebo will be prepared in a sterile method by designated personnel at each site. Active drug or placebo will be prepared in a 50cc syringe and infusion tubing attached, where both are coloured and UV-protected. The recruitment period is expected to be 24 months. Phone call follow-up will be conducted at day 60 (+7 days) post-randomization to review subjects' activities of daily living. All data will be entered electronically into REDCap. All randomized subjects will be included in the intention-to-treat analysis (ITT) dataset for primary and secondary efficacy endpoints analyses. Safety analysis will be conducted for all subjects who received at least one dose of study drug. There are no interim analyses planned in this trial. At least one safety review will be conducted at 50% target recruitment.

Interventions

IV Vitamin C (12g/day)

DRUGPlacebo

IV dextrose 5%

Sponsors

Ain Medicare Sdn Bhd
CollaboratorUNKNOWN
Clinical Research Centre, Malaysia
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

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

Eligibility

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

Inclusion criteria

* Patients who are aged 18 and above * Patients who are diagnosed with severe pneumonia * Patients who are mechanically ventilated

Exclusion criteria

* Known allergy to Vitamin C * Pregnancy * Known history of ongoing concomitant infection * Participation in another clinical trial and/or receipt of investigational drugs within 4 weeks prior to enrollment * Moribund patient with multiorgan failure to the judgement of the treating physician, who is not expected to survive 24 hours * Patient who requires home oxygen therapy or mechanical ventilation, including tracheostomy or non-invasive ventilation, except for CPAP/BIPAP for sleep-disordered breathing * Known history of previous or current diagnosis of renal stones * Known diagnosis of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency * Known diagnosis of hemochromatosis * Known diagnosis of poorly controlled chronic pulmonary disease, including: * Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with oxygen therapy * Chronic restrictive pulmonary disease with oxygen therapy * Bronchial asthma on Step 5 of treatment ladder as shown in Pocket Guide for Asthma Management and Prevention * Lung cancer in Stage IV of disease * Known diagnosis of heart failure on anti-failure treatment or requiring mechanical hemodynamic support (e.g. LVAD), with recent hospitalization within 3 months (90 days) from the date of current admission. * Immunocompromised state * Known diagnosis of malignancy and ongoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy as there is evidence that antioxidant supplement before and during treatment was associated with an increased hazard of recurrence * Known diagnosis of malignancy who had completed chemotherapy or radiotherapy with absolute neutrophil count ≤100 cells/mm3 * Known diagnosis of Stage 4 and above chronic kidney disease (GFR \<30 ml/min/1.73m2) and end-stage renal disease on regular dialysis (including peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis) * Known history of renal transplantation * Absence of family members or next of kin for informed consent

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Ventilation-free days (VFD) at 28-daysFirst 28 days after start of randomizationUnit of measurement: Ventilation-free days

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scoreBaseline, Day 4, Post interventionUnit of measurement: Point score
Plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) levelBaseline, Day 4, Post interventionUnit of measurement: mg/L
28-day vasopressor-free daysFirst 28 days after start of randomizationUnit of measurement: Vasopressor-free day
28-day intensive care unit-free daysFirst 28 days after start of randomizationUnit of measurement: ICU-free days
Subdistribution hazard ratio of ventilation-free event with mortality as the competing eventFirst 28 days after start of randomizationUnit of measurement: Cumulative incidence curve, Subdistribution hazard ratio
All-cause mortality rates at 28-dayFirst 28 days after start of randomizationUnit of measurement: Proportion, Percentage
Barthel index of activities of daily livingBaseline, Day 60Unit of measurement: Point score
Plasma ascorbate levelsBaseline, Day 2 (Between 8th and 9th dose OR Between 9th and 10th dose)Unit of measurement: μM
60-day hospitalization-free daysFirst 60 days after start of randomizationUnit of measurement: Hospitalization-free days

Countries

Malaysia

Contacts

Primary ContactCalvin Wong Ke Wen, MBBS MRCP
vicsep.my@gmail.com+6082276 666

Outcome results

None listed

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