Antiviral Effects of TXA as a Preventative Treatment Following COVID-19 Exposure

NCT04550338 · Status: WITHDRAWN · Phase: PHASE3 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Last updated 2021-04-23

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

A recent report in Physiolological Reviews proposed that the endogenous protease plasmin acts on SARS-CoV-2 by cleaving a newly inserted furin site in the S protein portion of the virus resulting in increased infectivity and virulence. A logical treatment that might blunt this process would be the inhibition of the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin. Fortunately, there is an inexpensive, commonly used drug, tranexamic acid, TXA, which suppresses this conversion and could be re-purposed for the treatment of COVID-19. TXA is a synthetic analog of the amino acid lysine which reversibly binds four to five lysine receptor sites on plasminogen. This reduces conversion of plasminogen to plasmin, and is normally used to prevent fibrin degradation. TXA is FDA approved for the outpatient treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding (typical dose 1300 mg p.o. TID x 5 days) and off-label use for many other indications. TXA is used perioperatively as a standard-of-care at UAB for orthopedic and cardiac bypass surgeries. It has a long track record of safety such that it is used over-the-counter in other countries as an antiviral and for the treatment of cosmetic dermatological disorders. Given the potential benefit and limited toxicity of TXA it would appear warranted to perform randomized, double-blind placebo controlled exploratory trial at UAB as a prophylactic antiviral treatment following exposure to COVID-19 in order to determine whether it reduces infectivity and virulence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as hypothesized. Involvement of each patient is only for 7 days before primary endpoints and 30 days for final data collection.

Conditions

Interventions

DRUG

Tranexamic acid

Oral administration of blinded medications

DRUG

Placebo

Oral administration of blinded medications

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Alabama at Birmingham

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
80 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-08-01
Primary Completion
2022-12-31
Completion
2023-03-31
FDA Drug
Yes

More Related Trials

Entities

Drugs
Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04550338 on ClinicalTrials.gov