COVID-19 Ozanimod Intervention Study (COZI)

A Randomized Trial on Efficacy and Safety of Ozanimod for the Treatment of COVID-19 Patients Requiring Oxygen Support - A Pilot Trial

The virus SARS-CoV-2 causes severe pneumonia which, in a proportion of patients progresses towards an Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) mainly related to the antiviral immune response. To date, there is no available treatment that significantly improves outcome of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1) ligands control vascular leakage in the airways and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor ligands devoid of activity on sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 3 (S1P3) show an excellent safety profile, including ozanimod. Critically, S1P1 ligands mildly impact, but do not compromise viral clearance and they reduced lung injury in preclinical models, even without concomitant use of antivirals and with a synergistic effect when associated to antiviral agents. Ozanimod was approved by the FDA for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis at the end of March 2020, and was recently (October 2020) approved by Health Canada for the same indication. The investigators believe that this immune modulator is at the top of the list of agents that should be trialed in order to mitigate the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19.

The primary objective is to substantiate the impact of ozanimod on key outcomes of COVID-19 patient progression, which will guide decision making around sample size and the choice of endpoints for future clinical trial.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: COVID-19
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Ozanimod; Other: Standard of care

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 43
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Québec, Canada, G1V 4G5
    • Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Quebec - Universite Laval
  • Quebec
    • Laval, Quebec, Canada, H7M 3L9
      • Hôpital de la Cité-de-la-Santé (CISSS de Laval)
    • Montréal, Quebec, Canada, H1T 1P7
      • Hôpital Santa Cabrini Ospedale (CIUSSS EMTL)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years to 81 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion criteria

• Confirmed COVID-19 (positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for COVID-19 from any specimen)
• Patients older than 18 years old and younger than 85 years old.
• BMI higher than 20 but lower than 40
• Patients with hypoxemia related to viral pneumonia (COVID-19) requiring oxygen or nasal high flow therapy (to maintain SpO2 above 92%) without criteria for immediate intubation or need for other respiratory supports (CPAP, non-invasive ventilation).
• Initiation of oxygen supplementation < 72 hours
• eGFR (CKD EPI) > 30 ml/min/1.73m2
• Serum troponin i < 80 ng/L
• Heart rate ≥ 55 bpm if beta blockers or calcium channel blocker nondihydropyridine are used, and ≥ 60 bpm in the other patients

Exclusion criteria Medical conditions

• Level of care B (unless patient agrees to intubation at study enrollment), C or D (patient admitted for palliative care; or physician is not committed to life-sustaining therapies)
• No SpO2 signal available (only if FreeO2 apparatus is used)
• Patient agitation (only if FreeO2 apparatus is used)
• Severe untreated sleep apnea
• History of or currently active primary or secondary immunodeficiency
• Recent (within the last 6 months) occurrence of myocardial infarction, unstable angina, stroke, transient ischemic attack, decompensated heart failure requiring hospitalization, class III/IV heart failure
• Known presence of Mobitz type II second-degree or third-degree atrioventricular block, sick sinus syndrome, or sinoatrial block, unless patient has a functioning pacemaker
• Child-Pugh score class C
• Pregnancy, lactation, or a positive serum beta human chorionic gonadotropin measured during screening
• Persistent hypotension.

Prior/concomitant therapy

• Receipt of a live vaccine within 4 weeks prior to randomization
• Receiving MAO inhibitor (tranylcypromine, selegiline or phenelzine)
• Receiving pharmacological treatment for a form of multiple sclerosis
• Use of long-term immunosuppressors (Ex. tacrolimus, cyclosporin, azathioprine, mycophenolate, sirolimus, methotrexate or chronic use of corticosteroid (> 7.5 mg per day more than 3 months)
• Receiving Class Ia and class III anti-arrythmic drugs amiodarone, sotalol, flecainide, propafenone
• Patients receiving or anticipated to receive hydroxychloroquine or azithromycin.

Prior/concurrent clinical study experience -Current enrolment in an interventional arm of a clinical trial with similar endpoints to the COZI trial

Other exclusions

-Patients or legal/authorized representatives who refuse to participate to the study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Ozanimod + standard of care; During hospitalization, the experiment treatment of Ozanimod will be given with the standard of care (Recommendations for standard of care management of COVID-19 will be provided for anticoagulation, fluid resuscitation, corticoids and other immunomodulators, antipyretics agents, antiviral agents and other treatments. These recommendations are subject to modifications based on the new literature data.).	Drug: Ozanimod; The investigational medical product (IMP) for this study is ozanimod. Ozanimod 0.23 mg be administered once daily for 4 days and then ozanimod 0.46 mg will be administered once daily for ten days.; Other Names: Zeposia (USA); Other: Standard of care; During hospitalization, patient will be given standard of care (Recommendations for standard of care management of COVID-19 will be provided for anticoagulation, fluid resuscitation, corticoids and other immunomodulators, antipyretics agents, antiviral agents and other treatments. These recommendations are subject to modifications based on the new literature data).
Active Comparator: Standard of care; During hospitalization, patient will be given standard of care (Recommendations for standard of care management of COVID-19 will be provided for anticoagulation, fluid resuscitation, corticoids and other immunomodulators, antipyretics agents, antiviral agents and other treatments. These recommendations are subject to modifications based on the new literature data).	Other: Standard of care; During hospitalization, patient will be given standard of care (Recommendations for standard of care management of COVID-19 will be provided for anticoagulation, fluid resuscitation, corticoids and other immunomodulators, antipyretics agents, antiviral agents and other treatments. These recommendations are subject to modifications based on the new literature data).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Daily Patient progression assessed with the World Health Organization-adapted 6-points ordinal scale	Clinical improvement until hospital discharge	through whole duration of the hospitalization, an average of 14 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The mean oxygen flow required to maintain the oxygen saturation (SpO2) target at 92%	Titrated every second with automated oxygen titration device (FreeO2)	First 7 days of the trial
Rate of non invasive ventilation (NIV) / high flow nasal therapy (HFNT) use		through whole duration of the hospitalization, an average of 14 days
Rate of intubation		through whole duration of the hospitalization, an average of 14 days
Ventilator-free and oxygen-free days at day 28		through whole duration of the hospitalization, an average of 14 days
Rate of ICU admission/length of stay/mortality		through whole duration of the hospitalization, an average of 14 days
Severity index measurement	Sepsis-related organ failure assessment (SOFA), national early warning score (NEWS2), early warning score for oxygen therapy (EWS.O2), decrease of at least 2 points on the 6-point ordinal scale	through whole duration of the hospitalization, an average of 14 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Quebec
• Collaborators: Bristol-Myers Squibb; Celgene
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: François Lellouche, MD, IUCPQ-UL; Study Chair: David Marsolais, PhD, Criucpq-Ul; Study Chair: Nathalie Châteauvert, B. pharm, Criucpq-Ul; Study Director: Pascale Blais-Lecours, PhD, Criucpq-Ul

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Lellouche F, Blais-Lecours P, Maltais F, Sarrazin JF, Rola P, Nguyen T, Chateauvert N, Marsolais D. Ozanimod Therapy in Patients With COVID-19 Requiring Oxygen Support: A Randomized, Open-Label, Pilot Trial. Chest. 2023 Oct 28:S0012-3692(23)05668-4. doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2023.10.023. Online ahead of print.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 16, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 14, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): May 12, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 26, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 26, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): May 28, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 20, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 16, 2024
• Last Verified: February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; S1P1 ligand; Oxygen requirement; WHO-adapted 6-points ordinal scale
• 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; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Immunosuppressive Agents; Immunologic Factors; Sphingosine 1 Phosphate Receptor Modulators; Ozanimod
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2021-3474

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