Skip to content

Short Course Regimen in Low Risk Active Tuberculosis- a Multicenter, Randomized, Active-controlled, Trial

Safety and Efficacy of Four-month Short Course Regimen in Low Risk Active Tuberculosis- a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06727864
Enrollment
270
Registered
2024-12-11
Start date
2024-01-01
Completion date
2028-12-31
Last updated
2026-08-03

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

Conditions

Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Keywords

tuberculosis, short course regimen, safety, sputum conversion, recurrence rate

Brief summary

Tuberculosis remains an important global health problem, and the world is currently not on track to end the TB epidemic by 2030. With the concerted efforts of the government and medical community, the incidence of TB in Taiwan has gradually decreased, however, Taiwan remains an endemic area for TB. The development of efficacious, safe, and shorter treatment regimens could significantly improve treatment completion rate and reduce transmission of TB. The current treatment guidelines for drug-susceptible TB from the World Health Organization (WHO), American Thoracic Society (ATS), United States Center for Diseases Control (U.S. CDC), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and European Respiratory Society (ERS) include 2 months of isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol (HREZ), followed by 4 months of isoniazid, rifampin, and ethambutol(HRE). The current treatment regimen requires 6 months of treatment, despite being highly efficacious, requires long duration of treatment. Adherence to treatment is the major barrier which poses a negative impact to TB control, and increased cost to both the patient and the public health system. Developing an efficacious, safe and short treatment regimen can significantly improve TB management and treatment success rates.

Detailed description

This prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-labeled 3-year study, will recruit 270 adult patients with newly diagnosed tuberculosis with low risk of recurrence, and randomized 1:1 to a 4 months 2HREZ/2HRE (n=135) versus standard, 6 months regimen 2HREZ/4HRE (n=135). Expected enrollment will be 90 patients in year 1, 90 in year 2 and 90 in year 3. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy, safety and long-term recurrence rate of a short-course, 4-months regimen including 2HREZ/2HRE compared with the standard 6-months regimen, 2HREZ/4HRE, and the impact of short regimen on reducing the costs and loading to the public health and medical system

Interventions

DRUG4-month regimen (2HERZ/2HRE)

4-month (2HERZ/2HRE)

DRUG6-month (2HERZ/4HRE)

2 months of HREZ followed by 4 months of HR/HRE

Sponsors

Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital.
Lead SponsorOTHER
Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan
CollaboratorOTHER_GOV
National Taiwan University Hospital
CollaboratorOTHER
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
CollaboratorOTHER
Far Eastern Memorial Hospital
CollaboratorOTHER
E-DA Hospital
CollaboratorOTHER
Kaohsiung Medical University
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Masking description

Masking will not be done

Intervention model description

Two months of isoniazid (H), pyrazinamide (Z), rifampicin (R), and pyrazinamide (Z) Subsequent orders are for H(E)Z for another two months

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to 99 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis patients combined with any of the following diagnostic conditions: * at least one set of sputum specimens is positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture or TB PCR test; or * pathological and histological findings of typical tuberculosis manifestations; * clinical diagnosis and Physician determines the need for complete anti-tuberculosis treatment * Those who have had tuberculosis in the past and have been cured for at least three years can be included * Aged over 20 years old * Laboratory data at the time of inclusion in the study or within 14 days: * Serum or plasma glutamic acid pyruvate transaminase (ALT) value ≦ three times the upper limit of normal * Serum or plasma total bilirubin ≦ 2.5 times the upper limit of normal * Serum or plasma creatinine ≦ twice the upper limit of normal or creatinine clearance greater than 30 mL/min * Heme ≧7.0 g/Dl * Platelets ≧100,000/mm3 * Patient signs consent form * Patients who agree to join and cooperate with the county and city health bureau's urban treatment plan to ensure medication compliance.

Exclusion criteria

* The acid-fast smear of sputum or respiratory specimen is strongly positive (≥ 2+) * Chest X-ray or lung computed tomography combined with open lesions * Chest X-ray or lung computed tomography shows extensive lesions and the clinician judges that short-term treatment is not suitable * Simultaneous combination of intrapulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis * People who are unable to take oral medications * People who have participated in this research * Have used anti-tuberculosis drugs for more than 14 days * A history of tuberculosis suspected or diagnosed as central nervous system tuberculosis, bone or joint tuberculosis, miliary tuberculosis or tuberculous pericarditis. * Known history of allergy or intolerance to this study drug * Patients with HIV infection, organ transplantation, and chronic renal failure * Long-term use of immunosuppressive drugs, including steroid use \>10mg/day (more than 30 consecutive days in the last three months) * Late exclusion: Mycobacterium tuberculosis is known to be resistant to any one or more of the following drugs: rifampin, isoniazid, ethambutol

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
TB disease free survival at 12 months post-randomization12 monthsNumber of participants without TB disease at 12 months after randomization
TB disease free survival at 24 months post randomization24 monthsNumber of participants without TB disease at 24 months after randomization
Grade 3-5 adverse eventsFrom enrollment to the end of treatment at 4 or 6 monthsDevelopment of Grade3-5 adverse events during treatment

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Early sterilizing activity8 weeksThe proportion of patients with a negative sputum culture at the end of intensive phase therapy at 8 weeks
Sputum culture conversion4, 8, 12, 16,20,24 weeks,3, 6, 12 and 24 months after treatmentTime to stable sputum culture conversion
All-cause mortality4, 12 monthsAll-cause mortality at 4 months and 12 months post-treatment assignment
Attributable mortality4, 12 monthsAttributable mortality at 4 months and 12 months post-treatment assignment
Changes in interferon-gamma levels2, 4, 8, 12,16or 24 weeksChanges in interferon-gamma levels during treatment compared to baseline
Changes in tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels2, 4, 8, 12,16or 24 weeksChanges in tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels during treatment compared to baseline
Changes in interleukin-12 and interleukin-6 levels2, 4, 8, 12,16or 24 weeksChanges in interleukin-12 and interleukin-6 levels during treatment compared to baseline
Changes in triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (TREM-1) levels2, 4, 8, 12,16or 24 weeksChanges in triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (TREM-1) levels during treatment compared to baseline

Countries

Taiwan

Contacts

CONTACTSusan Shin-Jung Lee, M.D., Ph.D.
ssjlee28@yahoo.com.tw+886-7342-2121
CONTACTMei-Ling Lin, University
ed101622@gmail.com+886-7342-2121
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORSusan Shin-Jung Lee, MD, PhD

Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital.

Outcome results

None listed

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