Tocilizumab in the Treatment of Coronavirus Induced Disease (COVID-19) (CORON-ACT)

CORON-ACT - a Multicenter, Double-blind, Randomized Controlled Phase II Trial on the Efficacy and Safety of Tocilizumab in the Treatment of Coronavirus Induced Disease (COVID-19)

The mortality rate of the disease caused by the corona virus induced disease (COVID-19) has been estimated to be 3.7% (WHO), which is more than 10-fold higher than the mortality of influenza. Patients with certain risk factors seem to die by an overwhelming reaction of the immune system to the virus, causing a cytokine storm with features of Cytokine-Release Syndrome (CRS) and Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS) and resulting in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Several pro-inflammatory cytokines are elevated in the plasma of patients and features of MAS in COVID-19, include elevated levels of ferritin, d-dimer, and low platelets.

There is increasing data that cytokine-targeted biological therapies can improve outcomes in CRS or MAS and even in sepsis. Tocilizumab (TCZ), an anti-IL-6R biological therapy, has been approved for the treatment of CRS and is used in patients with MAS. Based on these data, it is hypothesized that TCZ can reduce mortality in patients with severe COVID-19 prone to CRS and ARDS.

The overall purpose of this study is to evaluate whether treatment with TCZ reduces the severity and mortality in patients with COVID-19.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: SARS-CoV-2 Infection
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Tocilizumab (TCZ); Drug: Placebo

Detailed Description

Background and Rationale

The Acute Respiratory Syndrome by Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), first discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan/China, is causing a worldwide pandemic with potentially lethal implications on an individual basis, and, on the large scale bringing the health care systems and the economy to its limits. The mortality rate of this COronaVIrus induced Disease, COVID-19, has been estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be 3.7%, which is more than 10-fold higher than the mortality of influenza.

An infection with SARS-CoV-2 may cause an excessive host immune response, leading to an Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and death. Reports from China and from Italy describe an overwhelming inflammation which is triggered by the virus, causing a cytokine storm with features of Cytokine-Release Syndrome (CRS) and/or Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS). Pro-inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6) are elevated in the plasma of patients and features of MAS in COVID-19 include elevated levels of ferritin, d-dimer and low platelets.

There is increasing evidence, that cytokine-targeted biological therapies can improve outcomes in CRS or MAS and even in sepsis. In recognition of the dramatic development of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in a pragmatic manner, already approved and safe therapies should be evaluated for the use in severe COVID-19.

Tocilizumab (TCZ), an anti-IL-6R biological therapy, has been approved for the treatment of CRS and is used in patients with MAS (and in other rheumatologic conditions like Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) or Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA), with a good safety profile also in the elderly).

Collectively, the data strongly suggest that neutralization of the inflammatory pathway induced by IL-6 may reduce mortality in patients with severe COVID-19 prone to CRS and ARDS.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 5
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Bern, Switzerland, 3010
    • University hospital Bern (Inselspital)
  • Lausanne, Switzerland, 1011
    • Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV)
  • Viganello, Switzerland, 6962
    • Ospedale Regionale di Lugano (EOC)
  • Zurich, Switzerland, 8091
    • University Hospital Zurich

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 30 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

I (first step):

• Admission to hospital
• Male or non-pregnant female, ≥60 years of age or ≥30 years of age plus one or more known risk factors (arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, heart failure, pre-existing chronic pulmonary disease)
• Confirmed SARS-CoV infection
• Radiographic evidence compatible with Covid-19 pneumonia (X-ray/CT scan, etc.)
• Signed Informed Consent Form

II (second step; indication for intervention):

• CRP ≥50mg/L plus 3 out of the following 5 criteria need to be fulfilled:
• Respiration Rate ≥25
• SpO2 <93% (on ambient air)
• PaO2 <65 mmHg
• Persistent or increasing dyspnoea as defined by a one point increase on the mMRC dyspnoea scale (over 1 hour)
• Persistent or increasing oxygen demand (over 1 hour)

Exclusion Criteria:

I (first step):

• Patients >80 years of age
• Patient included in any other interventional trial
• Indication for imminent or immediate transfer to ICU
• Treatment with TCZ (or other anti-IL-6R treatment) within 4 weeks prior to baseline
• Uncontrolled bacterial superinfection according to investigator
• History of severe allergic reaction to TCZ
• History of diverticulitis requiring antibiotic treatment or history of colon perforation
• History of primary immunodeficiency (e.g. CVID) or progressing malignancy
• History of chronic liver disease (>Child-Pugh A, or according to investigator)

II (second step; contraindication for intervention):

• Alanine transaminase/aspartate transaminase (ALT/AST) >5 times of the upper limit of normal
• Hemoglobin <80 g/L
• Leukocytes <2.0 G/L
• Absolute neutrophil count <1.0 G/L
• Platelets <50 G/L

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
Experimental: Actemra; Patients get one dose (= 8 mg/kg bodyweight, max. single dose 800 mg) Actemra® (active ingredient: TCZ) intravenously in 100 mL NaCl 0.9% after confirmation of progressive dyspnoea. Infusion time: 60 min. The procedure is repeated once if no improvement in the 8-point WHO scale is observed.	Drug: Tocilizumab (TCZ); Patients get one dose (= 8 mg/kg bodyweight, max. single dose 800 mg) Actemra® (active ingredient: TCZ) intravenously in 100 mL NaCl 0.9% after confirmation of progressive dyspnoea. Infusion time: 60 min. The procedure is repeated once if no clinical improvement in the 8-point WHO scale is observed.; Other Names: Actemra
Placebo Comparator: Placebo; The placebo-controlled intervention is one dose (100 mL) NaCl 0.9% intravenously administered after confirmation of progressive dyspnoea. Infusion time: 60 min. The procedure is repeated once if no improvement in the 8-point WHO scale is observed.	Drug: Placebo; The placebo-controlled intervention is one dose (100 mL) NaCl 0.9% intravenously administered after confirmation of progressive dyspnoea. Infusion time: 60 min. The procedure is repeated once if no clinical improvement in the 8-point WHO scale is observed.; Other Names: NaCl 0.9%

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Number of patients with ICU admission	7 days after randomisation
Number of patients with intubation	14 days after randomisation
Number of patients with death	28 days after randomisation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Illness severity	Assessed by the 8-point WHO scale	At days 2, 7, 14, 28 after randomisation
Number of patients with clinical improvement	Clinical improvement is defined as a ≥ 2-point improvement in the 8-point WHO scale	At days 2, 7, 14, 28 after randomisation
Time to clinical improvement (days)	Clinical improvement is defined as a ≥ 2-point improvement in the 8-point WHO scale	Up to day 28 after randomisation
Duration of hospitalization (days)		Up to day 28 after randomisation
Time to ICU admission (days)		Up to day 28 after randomisation
Duration of ICU stay		Up to day 28 after randomisation
Time to intubation		Up to day 28 after randomisation
Duration of mechanical ventilation (days)		Up to day 28 after randomisation

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of deaths		Within 28 days after randomisation
Number of patients with ICU admission		Within 28 days after randomisation
Number of patients with intubation		Within 28 days after randomisation
Number of patients with events of special interest	Events of special interest are defined as secondary infections, acute kidney failure, hepatic, and cardiac failure	Within 28 days after randomisation
Number of patients with SAEs considered by the investigator to be at least probably related to the IMP		Within 28 days after randomisation

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital Inselspital, Berne
• Collaborators: Roche Pharma AG
• Investigators: Study Chair: Peter M. Villiger, Prof. Dr. med., University hospital Bern (Inselspital)

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, Ren L, Zhao J, Hu Y, Zhang L, Fan G, Xu J, Gu X, Cheng Z, Yu T, Xia J, Wei Y, Wu W, Xie X, Yin W, Li H, Liu M, Xiao Y, Gao H, Guo L, Xie J, Wang G, Jiang R, Gao Z, Jin Q, Wang J, Cao B. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020 Feb 15;395(10223):497-506. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5. Epub 2020 Jan 24. Erratum In: Lancet. 2020 Jan 30;:
• Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, Qu J, Gong F, Han Y, Qiu Y, Wang J, Liu Y, Wei Y, Xia J, Yu T, Zhang X, Zhang L. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Lancet. 2020 Feb 15;395(10223):507-513. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30211-7. Epub 2020 Jan 30.
• Wu C, Chen X, Cai Y, Xia J, Zhou X, Xu S, Huang H, Zhang L, Zhou X, Du C, Zhang Y, Song J, Wang S, Chao Y, Yang Z, Xu J, Zhou X, Chen D, Xiong W, Xu L, Zhou F, Jiang J, Bai C, Zheng J, Song Y. Risk Factors Associated With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and Death in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA Intern Med. 2020 Jul 1;180(7):934-943. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.0994. Erratum In: JAMA Intern Med. 2020 Jul 1;180(7):1031.
• Zhou F, Yu T, Du R, Fan G, Liu Y, Liu Z, Xiang J, Wang Y, Song B, Gu X, Guan L, Wei Y, Li H, Wu X, Xu J, Tu S, Zhang Y, Chen H, Cao B. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet. 2020 Mar 28;395(10229):1054-1062. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30566-3. Epub 2020 Mar 11. Erratum In: Lancet. 2020 Mar 28;395(10229):1038. Lancet. 2020 Mar 28;395(10229):1038.
• Le RQ, Li L, Yuan W, Shord SS, Nie L, Habtemariam BA, Przepiorka D, Farrell AT, Pazdur R. FDA Approval Summary: Tocilizumab for Treatment of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell-Induced Severe or Life-Threatening Cytokine Release Syndrome. Oncologist. 2018 Aug;23(8):943-947. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2018-0028. Epub 2018 Apr 5.
• Morrondo CD, Zarza LP, Gil JG, Pinto Tasende JA, Diez PD, Lopez JM. Benefit of Tocilizumab Therapy for Adult-Onset Still Disease Complicated With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. J Clin Rheumatol. 2016 Aug;22(5):291-3. doi: 10.1097/RHU.0000000000000374. No abstract available.
• Richter A, Listing J, Schneider M, Klopsch T, Kapelle A, Kaufmann J, Zink A, Strangfeld A. Impact of treatment with biologic DMARDs on the risk of sepsis or mortality after serious infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2016 Sep;75(9):1667-73. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2015-207838. Epub 2015 Nov 13.
• Shakoory B, Carcillo JA, Chatham WW, Amdur RL, Zhao H, Dinarello CA, Cron RQ, Opal SM. Interleukin-1 Receptor Blockade Is Associated With Reduced Mortality in Sepsis Patients With Features of Macrophage Activation Syndrome: Reanalysis of a Prior Phase III Trial. Crit Care Med. 2016 Feb;44(2):275-81. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000001402.
• Neuenschwander B, Capkun-Niggli G, Branson M, Spiegelhalter DJ. Summarizing historical information on controls in clinical trials. Clin Trials. 2010 Feb;7(1):5-18. doi: 10.1177/1740774509356002.
• Jones G, Sebba A, Gu J, Lowenstein MB, Calvo A, Gomez-Reino JJ, Siri DA, Tomsic M, Alecock E, Woodworth T, Genovese MC. Comparison of tocilizumab monotherapy versus methotrexate monotherapy in patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis: the AMBITION study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2010 Jan;69(1):88-96. doi: 10.1136/ard.2008.105197.
• Stone JH, Tuckwell K, Dimonaco S, Klearman M, Aringer M, Blockmans D, Brouwer E, Cid MC, Dasgupta B, Rech J, Salvarani C, Schett G, Schulze-Koops H, Spiera R, Unizony SH, Collinson N. Trial of Tocilizumab in Giant-Cell Arteritis. N Engl J Med. 2017 Jul 27;377(4):317-328. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1613849.
• Villiger PM, Adler S, Kuchen S, Wermelinger F, Dan D, Fiege V, Butikofer L, Seitz M, Reichenbach S. Tocilizumab for induction and maintenance of remission in giant cell arteritis: a phase 2, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2016 May 7;387(10031):1921-7. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00560-2. Epub 2016 Mar 4.
• Yang S, Cao P, Du P, Wu Z, Zhuang Z, Yang L, Yu X, Zhou Q, Feng X, Wang X, Li W, Liu E, Chen J, Chen Y, He D. Early estimation of the case fatality rate of COVID-19 in mainland China: a data-driven analysis. Ann Transl Med. 2020 Feb;8(4):128. doi: 10.21037/atm.2020.02.66.
• Khanna D, Denton CP, Jahreis A, van Laar JM, Frech TM, Anderson ME, Baron M, Chung L, Fierlbeck G, Lakshminarayanan S, Allanore Y, Pope JE, Riemekasten G, Steen V, Muller-Ladner U, Lafyatis R, Stifano G, Spotswood H, Chen-Harris H, Dziadek S, Morimoto A, Sornasse T, Siegel J, Furst DE. Safety and efficacy of subcutaneous tocilizumab in adults with systemic sclerosis (faSScinate): a phase 2, randomised, controlled trial. Lancet. 2016 Jun 25;387(10038):2630-2640. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00232-4. Epub 2016 May 5. Erratum In: Lancet. 2018 Apr 7;391(10128):1356.
• Ruan Q, Yang K, Wang W, Jiang L, Song J. Clinical predictors of mortality due to COVID-19 based on an analysis of data of 150 patients from Wuhan, China. Intensive Care Med. 2020 May;46(5):846-848. doi: 10.1007/s00134-020-05991-x. Epub 2020 Mar 3. No abstract available. Erratum In: Intensive Care Med. 2020 Apr 6;:

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 26, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 27, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): September 27, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 2, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 2, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): April 6, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 14, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 12, 2020
• Last Verified: October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pneumonia; Covid-19; Tocilizumab
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Lung Diseases; COVID-19
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2020-00691; 2020DR2044 (Other Identifier: Swissmedic)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No