A Phase 1 interventional study of urine spectrophotometry for rifampin absorbance in Tuberculosis, sponsored by University of Virginia. Recruiting at 1 site in Tanzania. Open to participants aged 3 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-27.
Sponsored by University of Virginia · Phase 1, Interventional, and Diagnostic
Individual pharmacokinetic variability is an important driver of tuberculosis (TB) treatment failure particularly among undernourished populations, and that suboptimal serum drug concentrations are associated with delayed response to treatment, death, and acquired bacterial drug resistance. Serum drug exposures can be approximated by urine excretion as measured by spectrophotometry, replacing the need for specialized equipment for serum testing. Anti-TB pharmacokinetic variability has also been associated with enteric pathogen burden. The overall hypothesis is that urine spectrophotometry will identify people with below-target rifampin serum concentrations, which can be corrected to target levels after dose adjustment as confirmed by serum mass spectrometry. Therefore, this protocol includes a clinical trial to assess efficacy and safety of rifampin dose adjustment based on urinary excretion levels among adults and children who are being treated for drug-sensitive pulmonary TB at our longstanding collaborative research site in Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Tanzania.
This is a single-site trial at Haydom Lutheran Hospital, a regional referral hospital level in Manyara Region of northern Tanzania. The primary objective: Among children and adults in Tanzania initiating treatment for drug-susceptible pulmonary TB, perform urine spectrophotometric testing for rifampin, and collect serum throughout the 24 hour dosing interval for later concentration measurement by gold-standard mass spectrometry and comparative pharmacokinetics. Patients with urine rifampin excretion below target will undergo incremental dose increase and urine spectrophotometry and serum collection will be repeated. Stool will also be evaluated at regular intervals to understand the association with enteropathogen burden and effects on rifampin absorption, urine excretion, and serum exposures. Participants will randomized to an early group where urine spectrophotometry and dose adjustment is performed at Day 14 after treatment initiation, or a delayed group where the intervention is performed at Day 21. Primary efficacy endpoint is the proportion of subjects in the early and delayed groups that reach serum target AUC0-24 (35 ug/mL for adults; 31.7 ug/mL for children) at Day 21, before the urine based dose adjustment is made in the delayed group. Primary safety endpoint is the number of severe adverse events. Secondary endpoints include: time to sputum culture conversion to negative, weight change. Time to culture conversion and weight change are stratified by age given pediatric populations are more likely to be culture negative and clinically diagnosed with weight gain a central measurement of treatment response. Safety of dose adjustment strategy parameters include clinical adverse events, liver function tests, kidney function tests and hematological parameters
1,170 studies on the registry are indexed under Tuberculosis; 175 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 200 is above the median of 150 across 820 interventional studies indexed under Tuberculosis.
Browse Tuberculosis studies →University of Virginia is the lead sponsor of 675 studies on the registry; 138 are open to participants now.
Of its 61 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 42 (69%) have results posted.
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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.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
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.
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)
GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².
Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Urine spectrophotometry for rifampin absorbance and rifampin dose adjustment at Day 14
Diagnostic Test: urine spectrophotometry for rifampin absorbance
Urine spectrophotometry for rifampin absorbance and rifampin dose adjustment at Day 21
Diagnostic Test: urine spectrophotometry for rifampin absorbance
All participants will received conventional weight-based TB therapy, standard of care for active TB disease. After enrollment, participants will be randomized to early Day 14 or delayed Day 21 dose modification of rifampin informed by urine spectrophotometry where absorbance is determined above or below a threshold. Below a threshold, single tablets of rifampin are added to conventional fixed drug combination standard of care, above a threshold, no additional rifampin is added. Dose adjustment of rifampin may be up to \~30mg/kg and will be continued through day-56.
Rifampin serum area under the concentration time curve for the 24 hour dosing interval
Primary efficacy endpoint is the proportion of subjects in the early and delayed group that reach serum target AUC0-24 (35 ug/mL for adults; 31.7 ug/mL for children).
Time frame: 21 days
Adverse events
Primary safety endpoint is the number of serious adverse events
Time frame: 56 days
Time to sputum culture conversion to negative
Time to sputum culture conversion to negative from pretreatment, Day 0, and serial sample collection as measured by mycobacterial load assay
Time frame: 56 days
Weight change
Percent of weight change of total body weight in kilograms
Time frame: 56 days
Enteropathogen burden
Total number of enteropathogen species as detected by stool multiplex PCR TaqMan Array Card
Time frame: 14, 21 and 28 days after enrollment
Biomarkers of intestinal inflammation, permeability and intestinal mass
Serum citruline, stool myeloperoxidase, stool alpha-1-antitrypsin, stool neopterin
Time frame: 14, 21, 28 days after enrollment
Plan to share: Undecided
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