ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00682578Updated May 9, 2018

A Comparative Study of Artekin With Standard Malarial Treatment Regimes in Afghanistan

A Phase 3 interventional study of Dihydroartemisinin + Piperaquine (Artekin) and artesunate-sulphadoxin/pyrimethamine, chloroquine in Uncomplicated Falciparum Malaria and Vivax Malaria, sponsored by University of Oxford. Completed at 4 sites in Afghanistan. Open to participants aged 3 Months and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-05-09.

Sponsored by University of Oxford · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 10 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jul 2007, registered May 2008).
Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
1,086
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
3 Months and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Malaria is a major public health problem in many provinces of Afghanistan the failure rate of chloroquine (CQ) and amodiaquine (AQ) treated Plasmodium falciparum(Pf) malaria has risen to more than 60% overall and as high as 90% in Jalalabad. CQ remains fully effective against P vivax, and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) remains effective against P falciparum (10-15% of cases fail to cure). The current malaria treatment protocol still continuing CQ for P.vivax and adopted Artmisinine based combination therapy (ACT) for treating (Pf) malaria, as most than 50% malaria has being diagnosed clinically, so due to this and other operational reasons the protocol needs to be simplified.

By comparing 56 day PCR corrected cure rate of DHA-PPQ with the standard treatment regimen as primary objective and comparing the safety, gametocytecidal effect and parasite clearance time as secondary objectives, our study titled: Randomized, Open Label, controlled, non-inferiority clinical trial for comparison of Efficacy \& safety, will provide scientific evidence to lead the simplification and improvement of the standard malaria treatment regimen in Afghanistan; to adopt a policy of treating both vivax and falciparum malaria with the same drug regimen.

With a significance level (α) = 0.05 and a power=80%, the calculated sample size is 274 per study arm. Therefore about1100 patients (274 per study-arm: 548 patients with falciaprum malaria and 548 patients with vivax malaria) will be recruited in Malaria reference Centers (MRCs) of three malaria endemic provinces (Nangarhar in the east, Thakhar in the north-east and Faryab in the north-west of country) after signing written inform consent form, according the inclusion and exclusion criteria and will be treated as out patients by giving the randomized drug dose under observation of study team and followed-up daily for 3 days (as treatment course of either arm is once daily dose for three days) and after than weekly up to day 56. and the study is planed to conducted in 3 provinces of Afghanistan for approximately 2 years.

Patients will be assessed clinically as well necessary laboratory tests will be performed and all the bio-medical findings will be recorded in special patient case record form, the electronic form of which will be broth to Trop. Med of Mahidol University for final analysis. The patients will be receiving the reasonable transportation cost for follow-up visits as well as one bed-net at the end of enrollment.

02

Conditions studied

  • Uncomplicated Falciparum Malaria
  • Vivax Malaria

Keywords

  • falciparum malaria
  • vivax malaria
  • dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine
03

In context

Malaria, Vivax

123 studies on the registry are indexed under Malaria, Vivax; 19 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 1,086 is above the median of 150 across 103 interventional studies indexed under Malaria, Vivax.

Browse Malaria, Vivax studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Oxford is the lead sponsor of 812 studies on the registry; 119 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
3 Months 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

  • Uncomplicated falciparum or vivax malaria or mixed species infection, as confirmed in a peripheral blood slide.
  • No signs of severe malaria
  • Age over three months.
  • Non-pregnant, (test for β-HCG in women of child-bearing age).
  • Weight ≥5 kg
  • Willingness to participate and written provided by the patient or in case of children by attending guardians/parents.
  • Not enrolled in any other drug study in the previous month

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Clinical or laboratory features suggesting severe malaria.
  • Known cardiac, renal, hepatic or other severe disease, or requirement for hospital treatment
  • Recurrent vomiting.
  • Not eligible for follow-up.
  • Lactating mother
  • Hyperparasitemia of P. falciparum > 100,000/µL
  • Treatment with Artesunate or Chloroquine in the past one month, Fansidar in the past one and the half months and Artekin in past 3 months.
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.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

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
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
1,086 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Artekin

    Dihydroartemisinin+ Paperaquine (DHA+PPQ, Artekin)

    Drug: Dihydroartemisinin + Piperaquine (Artekin)

  • Active comparator
    Standard treatment

    The standard treatment for uncomplicated falciparum and vivax malaria are as follows: Uncomplicated falciparum: artesunate-sulphadoxin/pyrimethamine Vivax malaria: chloroquine

    Drug: artesunate-sulphadoxin/pyrimethamine, chloroquine

Interventions

  • DrugDihydroartemisinin + Piperaquine (Artekin)

    Drug pages: Artenimol · Piperaquine

    An adult dose consists of four doses of two tablets, given at 0, 8, 24 and 48 h. The approximate total adult dose is 6/48 mg/kg (DHA/PPQ). For children, a dose of 1.6/12.8 mg/kg is given at the same time intervals; this dosage will be obtained by dissolving the tablets in 5 ml of water.

    Also known as: Artekin

  • Drugartesunate-sulphadoxin/pyrimethamine, chloroquine

    The standard treatment will be in accordance with that in Afghanistan

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. PCR corrected adequate clinical and parasitological response (PCR corrected 'adequate clinical and parasitological response' or ACPR)

    Time frame: Day 56

Secondary outcomes

  1. Crude or PCR uncorrected ACPR

    Time frame: Day 56

  2. Early treatment failure (failure to clear parasitaemia)

    Time frame: 7 days

  3. fever clearance times

    Time frame: Days

  4. parasite clearance times with no recrudescence over the observation period

    Time frame: days

  5. gametocyte clearance times

    Time frame: weeks

  6. Haemoglobin levels on day 14 compared to admission

    Time frame: day 14

  7. safety and tolerability (rate and severity of adverse events)

    Time frame: day 56

07

Study locations

4 sites
  • Provincial Malaria Control Centers (MRC)
    Faryab, Afghanistan
  • Provincial Malaria Control Centers (MRC)
    Jalalabad, Afghanistan
  • Provincial Malaria Control Centers (MRC)
    Maimana, Afghanistan
  • Provincial Malaria Control Centers (MRC)
    Takhar, Afghanistan
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Awab GR, Imwong M, Pukrittayakamee S, Alim F, Hanpithakpong W, Tarning J, Dondorp AM, Day NP, White NJ, Woodrow CJ. Clinical trials of artesunate plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Afghanistan: maintained efficacy a decade after introduction. Malar J. 2016 Feb 25;15:121. doi: 10.1186/s12936-016-1167-z. PubMed 26917051 ↗
  • Awab GR, Pukrittayakamee S, Imwong M, Dondorp AM, Woodrow CJ, Lee SJ, Day NP, Singhasivanon P, White NJ, Kaker F. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine versus chloroquine to treat vivax malaria in Afghanistan: an open randomized, non-inferiority, trial. Malar J. 2010 Apr 21;9:105. doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-9-105. PubMed 20409302 ↗
09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Jul 2007 to primary completion in Feb 2010, 31 months.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
May 14, 2008
First posted
May 22, 2008
StartActual
Jul 2007
Primary completionActual
Feb 2010
CompletionActual
Feb 2010
Last update
May 9, 2018
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 9, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00682578
Collaborators
Wellcome Trust, Ministry of public Health Afghanistan
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 22, 2008
Start date
Jul 2007
Primary completion
Feb 2010
Completion
Feb 2010
Last update
May 9, 2018

Study contacts

Ghulam R Awab, MD
principal investigator · Provincial Malaria Control Centers (MRC)

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in May 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Artenimol · Piperaquine

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