The Deferasirox-AmBisome Therapy for Mucormycosis (DEFEAT Mucor) Study

The purpose of this study is to determine if the addition of the medication, deferasirox, to standard antifungal therapy for the infection, mucormycosis, is safe and effective

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mucormycosis
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Placebo; Drug: Liposomal amphotericin B; Drug: deferasirox

Detailed Description

Because of its extremely high morbidity and mortality, it is imperative to look for new antifungal therapies to treat mucormycosis. The agents of mucormycosis are exquisitely sensitive to iron availability, and we and others have demonstrated that iron chelation therapy improves the survival of rodents with mucormycosis. Deferasirox (Exjade) is the first orally bioavailable iron chelator approved for use in the United States (US) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with an indication for treatment of iron overload from chronic transfusions. In clinical studies, deferasirox has been well tolerated and effective in iron-overloaded patients.

Although the safety and efficacy of deferasirox have been extensively evaluated in iron-overloaded patients, there are minimal data in non-iron-overloaded patients or in infected patients. Therefore, the safety and efficacy of deferasirox in patients with mucormycosis is unclear, and confirming safety in the current study, at the currently planned dose, is required to lay the groundwork for a future phase III clinical trial.

This is a prospective, phase II, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of liposomal amphotericin B (LAmB; AmBisome) plus deferasirox vs. LAmB plus placebo for mucormycosis infection. Twenty patients with proven or probable mucormycosis (except for isolated skin infection) by consensus EORTC/MSG criteria, who have received less than 14 days of antifungal therapy for mucormycosis, and who have had radiographic imaging by CT or MRI within the past 72 hours that shows evidence of infection, will be randomized to receive LAmB plus deferasirox or placebo (n = 10 per arm), with randomization stratified by study site.

The primary objective is to determine the safety and tolerability of adjunctive deferasirox therapy in patients being treated with LAmB for mucormycosis, and to obtain exploratory data on the efficacy of the iron chelation treatment. The exploratory efficacy endpoint will be the global response rate (composite of clinical and radiographic response) at end of study drug administration, as determined by a blinded adjudication committee.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 20
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Duarte, California, United States, 91010
      • City of Hope National Medical Center
    • San Francisco, California, United States, 94143
      • UCSF
  • Florida
    • Miami, Florida, United States, 33136
      • University of Miami
  • North Carolina
    • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27710
      • Duke University
  • Ohio
    • Akron, Ohio, United States, 44304
      • Summa Health Systems
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98109
      • Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age greater than 2 years.
• Proven or probable invasive mucormycosis, as defined by modification of consensus European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)/Mycosis Study Group (MSG) criteria. In brief, proven mucormycosis is defined as: 1) histopathologic or cytopathologic examination showing broad-based, aseptate, ribbon-like hyphae consistent with Mucorales from needle aspiration or biopsy specimen, with evidence of associated tissue damage (either microscopically or unequivocally by imaging); OR 2) a positive culture result for a sample obtained by sterile procedure from normally sterile and clinically or radiologically abnormal site consistent with infection, excluding urine and mucous membranes. Probable mucormycosis is defined as: 1) an at-risk host; AND 2) positive culture, cytology, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test (run at a CLIA-certified clinical microbiology laboratory) from sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), endoscopy/colonoscopy, or sinus aspirate/biopsy; AND 3) 1 major or 2 minor clinical criteria.
• Radiographic study by Computerized Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been obtained within 4 calendar days prior to enrollment and shows evidence of infection (i.e. focal nodule, mass, or abscess, or enhancement, or evidence of tissue edema or destruction that is not attributed to post-surgical reaction).
• Subject or authorized decision maker able to provide informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• High likelihood of death within the 48 h after enrollment (investigator's discretion).
• High likelihood of death due to factors unrelated to mucormycosis (e.g. due to uncontrolled and/or relapsed malignancy, severe graft versus host disease, other underlying diseases, etc.) within 30 days following enrollment (investigator's discretion).
• Patient unable to receive enteral medication (oral or via feeding tube).
• Infection limited to the supra-fascial skin (skin lesions in the presence of disseminated disease, deep invasive tissue infection spreading from a primary skin site, or subcutaneous infections extending to fascia are allowed).
• Patient has received > 14 days of polyene antifungal therapy (i.e. amphotericin B deoxycholate, liposomal amphotericin B, amphotericin B lipid complex, or amphotericin B colloidal dispersion) at the time of screening.
• Patient is already taking deferasirox therapy for any reason at the time of screening.
• Patient is allergic to or intolerant of deferasirox or LAmB.
• Patient has significant renal dysfunction at the time of screening, defined as serum creatinine of > 3 mg/dL or a calculated creatinine clearance of < 30 ml/min (by the Cockroft-Gault formula: (140 - age (yrs) * wt (kg)) * 0.85 (for females) / (72 * serum creatinine (mg/dL)).
• Patient has significant hepatic dysfunction at the time of screening, defined as BOTH an AST or ALT > 10 times the upper limit of normal, AND a direct (not total) bilirubin > 5 times the upper limit of normal.
• Women of child-bearing potential (those with menses within the last year) with a positive serum pregnancy test.
• Enrollment refused by the primary physician.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: A	Drug: Placebo; Drug: Liposomal amphotericin B
Experimental: B; Deferasirox	Drug: Liposomal amphotericin B; Drug: deferasirox; 20 mg/kg enterally per day; Other Names: Exjade

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Safety and Tolerability of Adjunctive Deferasirox Therapy in Patients Being Treated With LAmB for Mucormycosis	14 days
Global Response Rate (Composite of Clinical and Radiographic Response) at End of Study Drug Administration, as Determined by a Blinded Adjudication Committee	14 days
Total Adverse Events	30 Days After End of Therapy

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Deferasirox Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Parameters	7 days
Survival, Radiographic Improvement, Clinical Response, Time to Survival, Deferasirox vs. Free Iron Level Correlation	Up to 90 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
• Collaborators: Novartis; Gilead Sciences; Astellas Pharma Inc
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Brad Spellberg, MD, Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Spellberg B, Edwards J Jr, Ibrahim A. Novel perspectives on mucormycosis: pathophysiology, presentation, and management. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2005 Jul;18(3):556-69. doi: 10.1128/CMR.18.3.556-569.2005.
• Ibrahim AS, Edwards JE Jr, Fu Y, Spellberg B. Deferiprone iron chelation as a novel therapy for experimental mucormycosis. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2006 Nov;58(5):1070-3. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkl350. Epub 2006 Aug 23.
• Reed C, Ibrahim A, Edwards JE Jr, Walot I, Spellberg B. Deferasirox, an iron-chelating agent, as salvage therapy for rhinocerebral mucormycosis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006 Nov;50(11):3968-9. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01065-06. Epub 2006 Sep 25. No abstract available.
• Boelaert JR, Van Cutsem J, de Locht M, Schneider YJ, Crichton RR. Deferoxamine augments growth and pathogenicity of Rhizopus, while hydroxypyridinone chelators have no effect. Kidney Int. 1994 Mar;45(3):667-71. doi: 10.1038/ki.1994.89.
• Spellberg B, Ibrahim AS, Chin-Hong PV, Kontoyiannis DP, Morris MI, Perfect JR, Fredricks D, Brass EP. The Deferasirox-AmBisome Therapy for Mucormycosis (DEFEAT Mucor) study: a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2012 Mar;67(3):715-22. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkr375. Epub 2011 Sep 20.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2007
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2009
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 5, 2007
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 8, 2007
• First Posted (Estimated): January 9, 2007

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 16, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 3, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: adjunctive therapy; iron; zygomycosis; Rhizopus; iron-chelation
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Infections; Bacterial Infections and Mycoses; Mycoses; Mucormycosis; Zygomycosis; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Anti-Infective Agents; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antifungal Agents; Antiprotozoal Agents; Antiparasitic Agents; Chelating Agents; Sequestering Agents; Amebicides; Iron Chelating Agents; Deferasirox; Amphotericin B; Liposomal amphotericin B
• Other Study ID Numbers: 12842