A Phase 1 interventional study of Artesuante and Placebo capsules in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, sponsored by Joseph C. Wu. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 40 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-11.
Sponsored by Joseph C. Wu · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive fibrotic lung disease resulting in increasing shortness of breath, cough, and low oxygen levels as a result of lung tissue scarring . This will be a single-center randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of 20 weeks including up to 4 weeks for screening, followed by 12 weeks of oral artesunate treatment across 3 dose levels (dose escalation every 4 weeks), and 4 weeks of a washout (follow-up) period in participants with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of artesunate at 3 dose levels, and to select the dose(s) to carry forward into additional clinical testing. The secondary objective includes exploring the blood biomarkers present in participants with IPF at baseline and to investigate how those biomarkers change following artesunate treatment. The exploratory objectives include assessing the changes in the K-BILD and Leicester cough questionnaire scores and change in pulmonary function after artesunate administration.
576 studies on the registry are indexed under Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis; 123 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 15 is below the median of 55 across 389 interventional studies indexed under Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.
Browse Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis studies →Joseph C. Wu is the lead sponsor of 3 studies on the registry; 3 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Inclusion Criteria
Each participant must meet the following criteria to be enrolled in this study:
Female participants of (i.e., ovulating, premenopausal, and not surgically sterile) and all male participants with sexual partners of childbearing potential agree to use highly effective methods of during their participation in the study and for 60 days after the last administration of study drug. Women of child-bearing potential are defined as any female who has experienced menarche and who is not permanently sterile or . Postmenopausal is defined as 12 consecutive months with no menses without an alternative medical cause.
Highly effective methods of birth control are defined as those with 99% or greater efficacy and includes:
Use of hormonal contraception that inhibits ovulation, administered orally, by injection, implant, transdermal patch, or vaginal ring Vasectomized male partner Sexual abstinence, only if it is the participant's consistent and preferred lifestyle Infertile partner, confirmed by medical evaluation
7.3 Exclusion Criteria Participants who meet any of the following criteria will be excluded from the study.
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.
The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
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.
Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).
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.
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.
A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.
Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.
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.
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.
Hemoglobin (Hb)
The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Childbearing potential
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Postmenopausal
Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Bilirubin
A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.
Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Experimental group
Drug: Artesuante · Other: Placebo capsules
Control
Artesunate capsules administered orally twice daily beginning at 20 mg for 4 weeks, followed by 40 mg for 4 weeks, and then 60 mg for 4 weeks.
Placebo capsules
Number of participants who experience treatment-related adverse events
Time frame: 12 weeks
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis →
Joseph C. Wu