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CompletedNCT00001017Updated Mar 14, 2011

Comparison of Fluconazole and Amphotericin B in the Treatment of Brain Infections in Patients With AIDS

A Phase 3 interventional study of Fluconazole and Amphotericin B in Meningitis, Cryptococcal and HIV Infections, sponsored by Pfizer. Completed at 28 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2011-03-14.

Sponsored by Pfizer · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
330
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

To compare the safety and effectiveness of a new drug, fluconazole, with that of the usual therapy, amphotericin B, in the prevention of a relapse of cryptococcal meningitis (CM) in patients with AIDS who have been successfully treated for acute CM in the last 6 months.

Cryptococcal meningitis is a life-threatening infectious complication of AIDS. Because relapse after treatment occurs in over 50 percent of cases, chronic maintenance therapy with intravenous (IV) amphotericin B is usually given. However, amphotericin B is not always effective, has toxic effects, and must be given by the intravenous route. Fluconazole is an antifungal agent that can be given orally and has been shown to be effective against cryptococcal infections in animals and against acute CM in a few AIDS patients. Also, the side effects experienced by over 2000 patients or volunteers given fluconazole have seldom been severe enough to require withdrawal of the drug.

Read the detailed description

Cryptococcal meningitis is a life-threatening infectious complication of AIDS. Because relapse after treatment occurs in over 50 percent of cases, chronic maintenance therapy with intravenous (IV) amphotericin B is usually given. However, amphotericin B is not always effective, has toxic effects, and must be given by the intravenous route. Fluconazole is an antifungal agent that can be given orally and has been shown to be effective against cryptococcal infections in animals and against acute CM in a few AIDS patients. Also, the side effects experienced by over 2000 patients or volunteers given fluconazole have seldom been severe enough to require withdrawal of the drug.

Patients accepted in the trial are randomly assigned to fluconazole or amphotericin B. Fluconazole is given orally once a day and amphotericin B is given intravenously once a week. Dosages depend on body weight. Medications may be given with amphotericin B to prevent or reduce discomfort from associated side effects. Patients are treated for 12 months and may continue to receive antiviral therapy, radiation therapy for mucocutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma, or preventive therapy for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) during the study.

02

Conditions studied

  • Meningitis, Cryptococcal
  • HIV Infections

Keywords

  • AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections
  • Meningitis
  • Injections, Intravenous
  • Cryptococcosis
  • Fluconazole
  • Administration, Oral
  • Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
  • Amphotericin B
03

In context

Meningitis, Cryptococcal

54 studies on the registry are indexed under Meningitis, Cryptococcal; 6 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 330 is above the median of 143 across 35 interventional studies indexed under Meningitis, Cryptococcal.

Browse Meningitis, Cryptococcal studies →

Lead sponsor

Pfizer is the lead sponsor of 3,334 studies on the registry; 149 are open to participants now.

Of its 601 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 391 (65%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 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

  • infection documented by antibody (ELISA on two occasions or ELISA with Western blot confirmation), p24 antigen testing, or recovery of HIV in culture.

Prior Medication:

Required:

  • Minimum total dose of 15 mg/kg of amphotericin B (either alone or in combination with flucytosine) during primary therapy. End of primary therapy within 6 weeks of start of maintenance therapy.
  • Allowed:
  • Past or present antiviral therapy and prophylaxis for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP).
  • Pfizer must be notified if the patient is receiving ganciclovir at entry. Allowed with amphotericin B to treat or prevent side effects.
  • Antipyretics.
  • Hydrocortisone.
  • Meperidine.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Co-existing Condition:

Patients with the following are excluded:

  • Clinical evidence of acute or chronic meningitis other than cryptococcosis.
  • Allergy or intolerance of imidazoles, azoles, or amphotericin B. Unable to take oral medications reliably.

Patients with the following are excluded:

  • Clinical evidence of acute or chronic meningitis other than cryptococcosis.
  • Allergy or intolerance of imidazoles, azoles, or amphotericin B.

Prior Medication:

Excluded for more than 7 days after initiation of primary therapy for cryptococcosis:

  • Ketoconazole.
  • Fluconazole.
  • Itraconazole.
  • Miconazole.
  • Any other systemic imidazole or azole.
  • Excluded:
  • Intrathecal amphotericin B.
  • Coumadin-type anticoagulants.
  • Oral hypoglycemics.
  • Barbiturates.
  • Phenytoin.
  • Immunostimulants.
  • drug or approved (licensed) drugs for investigational indications.

Prior Treatment:

Excluded:

  • Lymphocyte replacement.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

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.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

05

Study design

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

Interventions

06

Study locations

28 sites
  • UCLA CARE Ctr
    Los Angeles, California 90095, United States
  • Univ of Miami School of Medicine
    Miami, Florida 331361013, United States
  • Indiana Univ Hosp
    Indianapolis, Indiana 462025250, United States
  • Louisiana State Univ School of Medicine
    New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, United States
  • Tulane Univ School of Medicine
    New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, 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
  • Jack Weiler Hosp / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10465, United States
  • Montefiore Med Ctr / Bronx Municipal Hosp
    Bronx, New York 10467, United States
  • North Central Bronx Hosp / 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
  • Mem Sloan - Kettering Cancer 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
  • 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
  • Ohio State Univ Hosp Clinic
    Columbus, Ohio 432101228, United States
  • Julio Arroyo
    West Columbia, South Carolina 29169, United States
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Saag MS, Powderly WG, Cloud GA, Robinson P, Grieco MH, Sharkey PK, Thompson SE, Sugar AM, Tuazon CU, Fisher JF, et al. Comparison of amphotericin B with fluconazole in the treatment of acute AIDS-associated cryptococcal meningitis. The NIAID Mycoses Study Group and the AIDS Clinical Trials Group. N Engl J Med. 1992 Jan 9;326(2):83-9. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199201093260202. PubMed 1727236 ↗
  • Powderly WG, Saag MS, Cloud GA, Robinson P, Meyer RD, Jacobson JM, Graybill JR, Sugar AM, McAuliffe VJ, Follansbee SE, et al. A controlled trial of fluconazole or amphotericin B to prevent relapse of cryptococcal meningitis in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The NIAID AIDS Clinical Trials Group and Mycoses Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1992 Mar 19;326(12):793-8. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199203193261203. PubMed 1538722 ↗
  • Powderly WG, Cloud GA, Dismukes WE, Saag MS. Measurement of cryptococcal antigen in serum and cerebrospinal fluid: value in the management of AIDS-associated cryptococcal meningitis. Clin Infect Dis. 1994 May;18(5):789-92. doi: 10.1093/clinids/18.5.789. PubMed 8075272 ↗
  • McKinney RE Jr, Maha MA, Connor EM, Feinberg J, Scott GB, Wulfsohn M, McIntosh K, Borkowsky W, Modlin JF, Weintrub P, et al. A multicenter trial of oral zidovudine in children with advanced human immunodeficiency virus disease. The Protocol 043 Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1991 Apr 11;324(15):1018-25. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199104113241503. PubMed 1672443 ↗
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 14, 2011, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00001017
Lead sponsor
Pfizer
First posted
Aug 31, 2001
Primary completion
Jul 1991
Last update
Mar 14, 2011

Study contacts

Armstrong D
study chair
Dismukes W
study chair
Powderly W
study chair
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Fluconazole · Amphotericin B

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