ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT05590455TIMPANIUpdated Dec 15, 2025

Tnf Inhibitors to Reduce Mortality in HIV-1 Infected PAtients With Tuberculosis meNIngitis

A Phase 2 interventional study of Adalimumab Injection in Tuberculous Meningitis and HIV I Infection, sponsored by ANRS, Emerging Infectious Diseases. Recruiting at 3 sites in 3 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-15.

Sponsored by ANRS, Emerging Infectious Diseases · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Apr 2023; still recruiting 3 years 7 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
130
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Randomized phase II clinical trial which aims to assess the impact on 3-month mortality and safety of adding adalimumab to standard treatment (anti-tuberculosis drugs and corticosteroids) in HIV patients with tuberculosis meningitis in 3 countries (Brazil, Mozambique, and Zambia).

Read the detailed description

Phase II multicenter, open-label, randomized, proof of concept, comparative trial with a large alpha (type 1 error rate) to evaluate the impact on 3-month mortality of adding the tumor necrosis factor inhibitor adalimumab to the standard treatment with antituberculosis drugs and high-dose steroids in HIV-infected adults diagnosed with tuberculosis meningitis (TBM) in 3 countries (Brazil, Mozambique, and Zambia).

All HIV1-infected patients diagnosed with TBM will be started on standard TB therapy for the duration recommended by national guidelines (2 months intensive phase and 7 months maintenance phase) and high-dose dexamethasone up to 4 weeks.

As soon as possible during the first 3 days of the standard TBM treatment that includes antituberculosis treatment and high-dose steroids, consenting patients will be randomized to standard treatment alone or standard treatment + adalimumab. Randomization will be stratified on country and initial severity using the British Medical Research Council (MRC) score.

Adalimumab arm:

  • Standard TBM treatment as described above
  • Adalimumab 40 mg: one sub-cutaneous injection, every 2 weeks for 10 weeks (total 6 injections), started as soon as possible during the first 3 days of antituberculosis treatment and high-dose steroids As World Health Organization and national guidelines for early antiretroviral therapy (ART) introduction in patients with TBM advise caution, ART will be started after 4 weeks of TB treatment in both arms if patients are clinically improved (but no later than 8 weeks of anti-TB treatment).

An interim analysis will be performed after 20 patients have been followed up for 3 months in adalimumab arm. This interim analysis will monitor the safety of adding TNF-inhibitor adalimumab.

02

Conditions studied

  • Tuberculous Meningitis
  • HIV I Infection
03

In context

Tuberculosis, Meningeal

31 studies on the registry are indexed under Tuberculosis, Meningeal; 9 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 130 is close to the median of 125 across 24 interventional studies indexed under Tuberculosis, Meningeal.

Browse Tuberculosis, Meningeal studies →

Lead sponsor

ANRS, Emerging Infectious Diseases is the lead sponsor of 215 studies on the registry; 38 are open to participants now.

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

  • Age ≥18 years
  • -1 infection
  • Definite or probable tuberculosis meningitis
  • Standard tuberculosis meningitis treatment ≤3 days: anti TB drugs at standard doses and high-dose dexamethasone as per WHO guidelines
  • Signed form by patient or relative.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Other concomitant neurological infection, i.e. toxoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, bacterial meningitis, neuro-syphilis
  • Asymptomatic positive cryptococcal antigen in serum
  • positive or anti virus antibodies positive
  • (ALT)>5
  • Rifampicin-resistant TB detected by GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra
  • History of previous TB treatment in patients with GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra negative or unavailable
  • Current use of drugs with study drugs and that cannot be safely stopped
  • Allergy to study drugs or any of their components
  • Uncontrolled opportunistic infection
  • Moderate to severe cardiac insufficiency ( classes III / IV)
  • Any condition which might, in the investigator's opinion, compromise the safety of treatment and/or patient's adherence to study procedures
  • For women of childbearing age: 1) Pregnancy or breastfeeding; 2) Refusal to use effective to be discussed with the investigator
  • Subjects participating in another clinical trial evaluating therapies and including an exclusion period that is still in force during the screening phase
  • Person under guardianship, or deprived of freedom by a judicial or administrative decision
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(9)

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.

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.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
130 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Adalimumab arm

    * Standard TBM treatment * Adalimumab 40 mg: one sub-cutaneous injection, every 2 weeks for 10 weeks (total 6 injections), started as soon as possible during the first 3 days of antituberculosis treatment and high-dose steroids

    Drug: Adalimumab Injection

  • No intervention
    Control arm

    \- Standard TBM

Interventions

  • one sub-cutaneous injection, every 2 weeks for 10 weeks (total 6 injections), started as soon as possible during the first 3 days of antituberculosis treatment and high-dose steroids

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. 3-month all-cause mortality

    Time frame: 3 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. 3-month incidence of severe/life threatening bacterial infections and opportunistic infections

    Time frame: 3 months

  2. 3-month incidence of grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions and those leading to ART or anti tuberculosis treatment (ATT) interruption

    Time frame: 3 months

  3. 3-month incidence of all grade 3 and 4 adverse events

    Time frame: 3 months

  4. 9-month and 12-month all-cause mortality

    Time frame: 9 months and 12 months

  5. 9-month disability free survival (using Rankin score)

    MODIFIED RANKIN SCORE (MRS) 0: No symptoms at all 1. No significant disability despite symptoms; able to carry out all usual duties and activities 2. Slight disability; unable to carry out all previous activities, but able to look after own affairs without assistance 3. Moderate disability; requiring some help, but able to walk without assistance 4. Moderately severe disability; unable to walk without assistance and unable to attend to own bodily needs without assistance 5. Severe disability; bedridden, incontinent and requiring constant nursing care and attention 6. Dead

    Time frame: 9 months

  6. 3-month and 9-month incidence of all grade infectious diseases and opportunistic infections

    Time frame: 3 months and 9 months

  7. 9-month neurological disability score (Rankin score)

    MODIFIED RANKIN SCORE (MRS) 0: No symptoms at all 1. No significant disability despite symptoms; able to carry out all usual duties and activities 2. Slight disability; unable to carry out all previous activities, but able to look after own affairs without assistance 3. Moderate disability; requiring some help, but able to walk without assistance 4. Moderately severe disability; unable to walk without assistance and unable to attend to own bodily needs without assistance 5. Severe disability; bedridden, incontinent and requiring constant nursing care and attention 6. Dead

    Time frame: 9 months

  8. Time to and severity of TB-associated paradoxical immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) between D0 and 9 months

    Time frame: up to 9 months

  9. Time to discharge

    Time frame: up to 9 months

  10. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis/protein/glucose levels at W0, W1 and W4

    Time frame: week 0, week1 and week4

  11. CSF mycobacterial cultures negativation (culture conversion), time to culture positivity and cycle threshold (GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/Rifampicin Ultra) at W1, W4,

    Time frame: week1 and week4

  12. Proportion of patients with HIV-1 RNA<50 copies/mL at 9 months

    Time frame: 9 months

  13. CD4 counts at 9 months (and gain from baseline)

    Time frame: 9 months

  14. Inflammatory biomarkers and cytokines profiles in CSF at W0, W1, W4

    Time frame: week 0, week1 and week4

  15. Inflammatory biomarkers in blood at W0, W4, W10, M6 and M9

    Time frame: week 0, week4, week10, 6 months and 9 months

  16. Cytokines profiles in blood at W0, W4, W10, M6 and M9

    Time frame: week 0, week4, week10, 6 months and 9 months

  17. Proportion of participants with possible, probable or definite TBM diagnosis at pre-inclusion according to Marais score

    Evaluation of TBM diagnosis and differential diagnoses in all pre-included participants: Proportion of participants with possible, probable or definite TBM diagnosis at pre-inclusion according to Marais score

    Time frame: Pre-inclusion

  18. Proportion of participants with other CNS disease (opportunistic infections or other neurological conditions)

    Evaluation of TBM diagnosis and differential diagnoses in all pre-included participants: Proportion of participants with other CNS disease (opportunistic infections or other neurological conditions)

    Time frame: Pre-inclusion

07

Study locations

1 of 3 sites recruiting
  • Laboratory of clinical research on STD/AIDS - IPEC/FIOCRUZ
    Rio de Janeiro, 21040-900, Brazil
    Recruiting
    • Sandra WAGNER · Contactdra.wagner@gmail.com · + 55 21 38 65 96 23
    • Beatriz GRINSZTEJN · Principal investigator
  • Instituto Nacional de Saude
    Maputo, Mozambique
    Not yet recruiting
  • Adult Infectious Diseases Centre, University Teaching Hospital
    Lusaka, Zambia
    Not yet recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 15, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05590455
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Oct 21, 2022
Start date
Apr 11, 2023
Primary completion
Jun 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Dec 15, 2025

Study contacts

Vanessa MACHAULT, PhD
Contact
vanessa.machault@u-bordeaux.fr
+335 57 57 57 63
Olivier MARCY, MD PhD
Contact
Nathalie DE CASTRO, MD
principal investigator · AP-HP, Hôpital Saint-Louis
Celso KHOSA, MD
principal investigator · Instituto Nacional de Saúde, Mozambique

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drug tested here: Adalimumab

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