Evaluating The Safety And Clinical Efficacy Of Elderberry Extract In Patients With Influenza

January 13, 2021 updated by: michael macknin

Phase IV Study Evaluating The Safety And Clinical Efficacy Of Elderberry Extract In Patients With Influenza: A Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial

This research is being done to determine if an extract of cooked elderberries will help decrease the duration and severity of influenza symptoms in patients with confirmed influenza. Involvement in this study requires an initial patient screening at the time of their Emergency Department visit in order to confirm eligibility for the study. Once patients have been consented and enrolled as a participant, they will be randomized to take by mouth either Elderberry Extract or a placebo (a similar appearing and tasting liquid without elderberry) for a duration of 5 days. Study information regarding medication adherence, body temperature, symptoms, severity of symptoms, and any possible side effects will be collected from daily phone surveys conducted by the study coordinator. Participation in the study will end after at least 5 days once the patient has not had a temperature above 100°F and has had no influenza symptoms for at least 24 hours, or after 21 days in the study, whichever occurs first.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

87

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Ohio
      • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44195
        • Cleveland Clinic

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

1 year and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • With 48 hours or less of an influenza illness documented by polymerase chain reaction
  • Have AT LEAST 2 of the following 7 influenza symptoms (nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, aches and pains, fatigue, headaches, and chills or sweats) graded as either moderate or severe
  • Have access to a phone
  • Subjects are capable of giving informed consent or have an acceptable legally authorized representative capable of giving consent on the subject's behalf with informed assent given by subject.
  • Have been prescribed or offered a prescription for oseltamivir (Tamiflu)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Known allergy to elderberry extract or oseltamivir
  • Use of antibiotic or antiviral medication on presentation to the study
  • Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding women, or do not agree to appropriate contraception (abstinence, hormonal, intrauterine device, and barrier) to prevent pregnancy during the study.
  • Patients with HIV
  • Patients with cystic fibrosis
  • Patients taking elderberry extract

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Elderberry Extract
Patients will be supplied a liquid Elderberry Extract used to treat their confirmed human influenza. The dosage of the assigned medication will be 15 ml, or 1 tablespoon. Participants aged 5-12 will be asked to take the medication 2 times per day (morning/night) for a period of 5 days. Participants aged 13 and above will be asked to take the medication 4 times per day (morning/noon/afternoon/night) for a period of 5 days.
Drug: Elderberry Extract
Thick reddish-brown liquid of Sambucus Nigra (Black Elderberry)
Other Names:
  • Sambucol
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Patients will be supplied a liquid Placebo medication (similar in appearance and taste of Elderberry Extract) used to treat their confirmed human influenza. The dosage of the assigned medication will be 15 ml, or 1 tablespoon. Participants aged 5-12 will be asked to take the medication 2 times per day (morning/night) for a period of 5 days. Participants aged 13 and above will be asked to take the medication 4 times per day (morning/noon/afternoon/night) for a period of 5 days.
Drug: Placebos
Thick reddish-brown liquid similar in appearance and taste to Elderberry Extract not containing elderberry

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of Days Until Alleviation of Flu Symptoms Post Treatment
Time Frame: every 24 hours post study drug administration for minimum of 5 days up to 21 days
Symptoms will be recorded using the scoring system described in a meta-analysis of "all published and unpublished Roche-sponsored randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind trials of oseltamivir treatment in adult influenza" (BMJ 4/9/2014). "The primary outcome will be time to alleviation of all symptoms. Seven influenza symptoms (nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, aches and pains, fatigue, headaches, and chills or sweats)" will be graded by severity as "none/absent" (0), "mild" (1), "moderate" (2), or "severe" (3). Alleviation will be defined to arise when all symptoms scored as absent or mild, and remain so for at least 21.5 hours."
every 24 hours post study drug administration for minimum of 5 days up to 21 days
Number of Days Until Complete Resolution of All Flu Symptoms for 24 Hours
Time Frame: every 24 hours post study drug administration for minimum of 5 days up to 21 days
Participants were called daily and asked to report on the severity of their symptoms present. Symptoms graded according to severity score (NONE/ABSENT=0 MILD=1 MODERATE=2 SEVERE=3).
every 24 hours post study drug administration for minimum of 5 days up to 21 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

michael macknin

Collaborators

Pharmacare Laboratories

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 29, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 25, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

June 25, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 19, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 19, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

January 25, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 19, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 13, 2021

Last Verified

January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 17-1682

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

IPD Plan Description

No plan to share data, needs HIPPA clearance and specific IRB approval, we did not plan on original data being shared

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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