Flufenamic Acid for Hospitalised Influenza Infection
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2020-10-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
It is well recognized that respiratory viruses cause substantial disease burden every year.
Among all known respiratory viruses, influenza virus is the greatest cause of
disability-adjusted life years lost, excess hospitalizations, and deaths in the elderly and
patients with chronic illness. These patients are frequently hospitalized for pneumonia
secondary to these respiratory viral infection. Recently, macrolide antimicrobial
clarithromycin and flufenamic acid (FFA) have been shown to inhibit seasonal influenza virus
infection in human airway epithelial cells with additional anti-inflammatory effect.
The investigators therefore plan to conduct a 3-year prospective study among adult patients
hospitalized in Queen Mary Hospital for influenza with secondary pneumonia and randomized
them to receive a course of oseltamivir + FFA + clarithromycin (as treatment) vs. a course of
oseltamivir (current standard treatment as control). The objective of this prospective
double-blind randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the efficacy of clarithromycin and
FFA antiviral therapy in patients diagnosed to have pneumonia secondary to influenza
infection.