ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00001011Updated Nov 4, 2021

The Safety and Effectiveness of Zidovudine in the Treatment of Patients With Early AIDS Related Complex

A Phase 3 interventional study of Zidovudine in HIV Infections, sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Completed at 40 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 12 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-11-04.

Primary conditionAIDS-Related ComplexRegistry: HIV InfectionsReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
HIV Infections — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
AIDS-Related Complex
Why
  1. The study's title name AIDS-Related Complex, a narrower term within HIV Infections.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own title. Of 46 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 72% were exactly right and 89% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 4% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
538
Ages
12 Years and older
Sex
All
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Study summary

To determine the safety and usefulness of zidovudine (AZT) for the treatment of patients with early symptomatic HIV infection or early AIDS related complex (ARC). The ability of AZT to suppress HIV, to improve body defenses, and to prevent the occurrence or development of AIDS or advanced ARC is being evaluated.

In one human study, patients with AIDS or advanced ARC who received AZT had fewer life-threatening infections, improved in weight and performance, and lived longer than patients who received a placebo (inactive medication). Further studies are needed because toxic effects associated with the use of AZT were noted and the long-term effectiveness and toxicity of AZT are still unknown. It is also unknown if AZT will benefit patients with less severe HIV infections such as early ARC or PGL.

Read the detailed description

In one human study, patients with AIDS or advanced ARC who received AZT had fewer life-threatening infections, improved in weight and performance, and lived longer than patients who received a placebo (inactive medication). Further studies are needed because toxic effects associated with the use of AZT were noted and the long-term effectiveness and toxicity of AZT are still unknown. It is also unknown if AZT will benefit patients with less severe HIV infections such as early ARC or PGL.

Patients accepted into the study are randomly assigned to receive either AZT or placebo. Treatment continues for a minimum of 104 weeks beyond the time the last patient enters the study. If the study medication causes toxic effects, the dose is decreased or temporarily stopped, and if the toxic effects are severe, then the medication will be stopped permanently. Participants visit the clinic every 2 weeks during the first 16 weeks and once a month thereafter. Throughout the study frequent blood samples are taken to monitor the effectiveness and safety of the treatment. AMENDED: The placebo arm has been discontinued as of August 3, 1989 and the AZT dose has been reduced.

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Conditions studied

  • HIV Infections

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Keywords

  • Virus Replication
  • AIDS-Related Complex
  • Zidovudine
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In context

AIDS-Related Complex Reclassified

283 studies on the registry are indexed under AIDS-Related Complex; 2 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 538 is above the median of 60 across 194 interventional studies indexed under AIDS-Related Complex.

Browse AIDS-Related Complex studies →

Lead sponsor

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is the lead sponsor of 2,446 studies on the registry; 179 are open to participants now.

Of its 405 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 302 (75%) have results posted.

Compared within AIDS-Related Complex, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is HIV Infections. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
12 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients must have a positive antibody to confirmed by a federally licensed ELISA test kit.
  • The must be 201 - 799 cells/mm3 measured on two separate occasions within 60 days at least 72 hours apart prior to study entry (at least 1 of 2 counts and the mean must be \< 800 cells/mm3, and at least 1 of 2 counts and the mean must be > 200 cells/mm3). The last count must be within 14 days of study entry.

Concurrent Medication:

Allowed:

  • Acetaminophen and acetaminophen products but use should be minimized. Continuous use for > 72 hours is discouraged.
  • Aerosolized pentamidine.

Prior Medication:

Allowed:

  • Chemoprophylaxis for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia with aerosolized pentamidine of 300 mg every 4 weeks through the Respirgard II nebulizer if patient has CD4(+) count \< 200 cells/mm3 measured on 2 determinations at least 48 hours apart.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Concurrent Medication:

Excluded:

  • Other antiretroviral agents, biologic modifiers or .
  • Other experimental medications.
  • Systemic chemoprophylaxis of Pneumocystic carinii pneumonia (PCP) - aerosolized pentamidine is allowed.

Prior Medication:

Excluded:

  • Zidovudine (AZT).
  • Other antiretroviral agents.
  • Excluded within 30 days of study entry:
  • Biologic modifiers or corticosteroids.
  • Excluded within 60 days of study entry:
  • Ribavirin.

Prior Treatment:

Excluded within 30 days of study entry:

  • Blood transfusions.

Patients may not have any of the following diseases or symptoms:

  • Active oral candidiasis at entry.
  • An opportunistic infection or fulfilling the definition of AIDS (CDC Surveillance Case Definition for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).
  • Temperature > 38.5 degrees C persisting for > 14 consecutive days or > 15 days in a 30-day interval present at entry.
  • Chronic diarrhea defined as = or > 3 liquid stools per day, persisting for > 14 days without a definable cause during the past 2 years.
  • neurologic disease as manifested by motor abnormalities including impaired rapid eye movements or ataxia; motor weakness in the lower extremities; sensory deficit consistent with a peripheral neuropathy; bladder or bowel incontinence.
  • Concurrent neoplasms other than basal cell carcinoma of the skin or in situ carcinoma of the cervix.
  • Subjects with hemophilia should be evaluated and treated under the hemophilia protocols, if available at that ACTG.

Patients may not have any of the following diseases or symptoms:

  • Active oral candidiasis at entry.
  • An opportunistic infection or malignancy fulfilling the definition of AIDS (CDC Surveillance Case Definition for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).
  • Temperature > 38.5 degrees C persisting for > 14 consecutive days or > 15 days in a 30-day interval present at entry.
  • Chronic diarrhea defined as = or > 3 liquid stools per day, persisting for > 14 days without a definable cause during the past 2 years.
  • HIV neurologic disease as manifested by motor abnormalities including impaired rapid eye movements or ataxia; motor weakness in the lower extremities; sensory deficit consistent with a peripheral neuropathy; bladder or bowel incontinence.
  • Concurrent neoplasms other than basal cell carcinoma of the skin or in situ carcinoma of the cervix.
  • Subjects with hemophilia should be evaluated and treated under the hemophilia protocols, if available at that ACTG.

Active drug or alcohol abuse.

Terms in these criteria, in plain language(4)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

CD4 count

The number of CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell, in a given amount of blood. It is used to follow how well the immune system is doing in HIV.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

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Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Enrollment
538 participants

Interventions

06

Study locations

40 sites
  • Los Angeles County - USC Med Ctr
    Los Angeles, California 90033, United States
  • UCLA CARE Ctr
    Los Angeles, California 90095, United States
  • Palo Alto Veterans Adm Med Ctr / Stanford Univ
    Palo Alto, California 94304, United States
  • Univ of California / San Diego Treatment Ctr
    San Diego, California 921036325, United States
  • Stanford at Kaiser / Kaiser Permanente Med Ctr
    San Francisco, California 94115, United States
  • Stanford Univ School of Medicine
    Stanford, California 94305, United States
  • Harbor UCLA Med Ctr
    Torrance, California 90502, United States
  • George Washington Univ Med Ctr
    Washington, District of Columbia 20037, United States
  • Univ of Miami School of Medicine
    Miami, Florida 331361013, United States
  • Northwestern Univ Med School
    Chicago, Illinois 60611, United States
  • Indiana Univ Hosp
    Indianapolis, Indiana 462025250, United States
  • Johns Hopkins Hosp
    Baltimore, Maryland 21287, United States
  • Harvard (Massachusetts Gen Hosp)
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
  • Beth Israel Deaconess - West Campus
    Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
  • Univ of Minnesota
    Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
  • St Louis Regional Hosp / St Louis Regional Med Ctr
    Saint Louis, Missouri 63112, United States
  • Bronx Municipal Hosp Ctr/Jacobi Med Ctr
    Bronx, New York 10461, United States
  • Jack Weiler Hosp / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10465, United States
  • Montefiore Med Ctr / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10467, United States
  • Bronx Veterans Administration / Mount Sinai Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10468, United States
  • SUNY / Erie County Med Ctr at Buffalo
    Buffalo, New York 14215, United States
  • City Hosp Ctr at Elmhurst / Mount Sinai Hosp
    Elmhurst, New York 11373, United States
  • Beth Israel Med Ctr / Peter Krueger Clinic
    New York, New York 10003, United States
  • Bellevue Hosp / New York Univ Med Ctr
    New York, New York 10016, United States
  • Cornell Univ Med Ctr
    New York, New York 10021, United States
  • Saint Luke's - Roosevelt Hosp Ctr
    New York, New York 10025, United States
  • Mount Sinai Med Ctr
    New York, New York 10029, United States
  • Univ of Rochester Medical Center
    Rochester, New York 14642, United States
  • SUNY - Stony Brook
    Stony Brook, New York 117948153, United States
  • SUNY / State Univ of New York
    Syracuse, New York 13210, United States
  • Univ of North Carolina
    Chapel Hill, North Carolina 275997215, United States
  • Duke Univ Med Ctr
    Durham, North Carolina 27710, United States
  • Holmes Hosp / Univ of Cincinnati Med Ctr
    Cincinnati, Ohio 452670405, United States
  • Univ Hosp of Cleveland / Case Western Reserve Univ
    Cleveland, Ohio 44106, United States
  • Columbus Children's Hosp
    Columbus, Ohio 432052696, United States
  • Ohio State Univ Hosp Clinic
    Columbus, Ohio 432101228, United States
  • Thomas Jefferson Univ Hosp
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, United States
  • Univ of Pittsburgh Med School
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
  • Julio Arroyo
    West Columbia, South Carolina 29169, United States
  • Univ of Washington
    Seattle, Washington 98105, United States
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Fischl MA, Richman DD, Hansen N, Collier AC, Carey JT, Para MF, Hardy WD, Dolin R, Powderly WG, Allan JD, et al. The safety and efficacy of zidovudine (AZT) in the treatment of subjects with mildly symptomatic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) infection. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The AIDS Clinical Trials Group. Ann Intern Med. 1990 May 15;112(10):727-37. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-112-10-727. PubMed 1970466 ↗
  • Bass HZ, Hardy WD, Mitsuyasu RT, Wang YX, Cumberland W, Fahey JL. Eleven lymphoid phenotypic markers in HIV infection: selective changes induced by zidovudine treatment. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr (1988). 1992;5(9):890-7. PubMed 1512689 ↗
  • Bass HZ, Nishanian P, Hardy WD, Mitsuyasu RT, Esmail E, Cumberland W, Fahey JL. Immune changes in HIV-1 infection: significant correlations and differences in serum markers and lymphoid phenotypic antigens. Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1992 Jul;64(1):63-70. doi: 10.1016/0090-1229(92)90060-2. PubMed 1376654 ↗
  • Wu AW, Rubin HR, Mathews WC, Brysk LM, Bozzette SA, Hardy WD, Atkinson JH, Grant I, Spector SA, McCutchan JA, et al. Functional status and well-being in a placebo-controlled trial of zidovudine in early symptomatic HIV infection. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr (1988). 1993 May;6(5):452-8. PubMed 8483109 ↗
  • Jacobson MA, Gundacker H, Hughes M, Fischl M, Volberding P. Zidovudine side effects as reported by black, Hispanic, and white/non-Hispanic patients with early HIV disease: combined analysis of two multicenter placebo-controlled trials. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr Hum Retrovirol. 1996 Jan 1;11(1):45-52. doi: 10.1097/00042560-199601010-00006. PubMed 8528732 ↗
  • Kozal MJ, Shafer RW, Winters MA, Katzenstein DA, Merigan TC. A mutation in human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase and decline in CD4 lymphocyte numbers in long-term zidovudine recipients. J Infect Dis. 1993 Mar;167(3):526-32. doi: 10.1093/infdis/167.3.526. PubMed 7680058 ↗
  • McCorkindale C, Dybevik K, Coulston AM, Sucher KP. Nutritional status of HIV-infected patients during the early disease stages. J Am Diet Assoc. 1990 Sep;90(9):1236-41. PubMed 2168908 ↗
  • Lin DY, Fischl MA, Schoenfeld DA. Evaluating the role of CD4-lymphocyte counts as surrogate endpoints in human immunodeficiency virus clinical trials. Stat Med. 1993 May 15;12(9):835-42. doi: 10.1002/sim.4780120904. PubMed 8101011 ↗
  • Lagakos S, Fischl MA, Stein DS, Lim L, Volberding P. Effects of zidovudine therapy in minority and other subpopulations with early HIV infection. JAMA. 1991 Nov 20;266(19):2709-12. PubMed 1942422 ↗
  • Melnick SL, Hannan P, Decher L, Little JW, Rhame FS, Balfour HH Jr, Volberding P. Increasing CD8+ T lymphocytes predict subsequent development of intraoral lesions among individuals in the early stages of infection by the human immunodeficiency virus. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr (1988). 1991;4(12):1199-207. PubMed 1682473 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 4, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00001011
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 31, 2001
Completion
Feb 1995
Last update
Nov 4, 2021

Study contacts

MA Fischl
study chair
DD Richman
study chair
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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