The ANTICOV clinical trial, conducted in 13 African countries, has started the recruitment of participants to test a new drug combination, nitazoxanide + ciclesonide, to treat people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 before their cases become severe.
The ANTICOV study is being carried out by a consortium of 26 partners which include leading African research institutions and international health organizations, coordinated by the non-profit research and development (R&D) organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).
It is the largest trial in Africa to identify early COVID-19 treatments that can prevent progression to severe disease and potentially limit transmission.
"In many African countries our worst fears are being realised, as already-strained intensive care units are beginning to fill up with COVID-19 patients," said Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
"Yet the number of vaccine doses that are reaching the African continent is too limited. The rapid spread of new variants also threatens to reduce the efficacy of existing vaccines, which is another major cause for concern. We need urgently to identify affordable and easy-to-administer treatments that can prevent the evolution to a severe form of the disease and slow the rate of infection."
The Africa CDC has recorded more than 120,000 deaths from COVID-19 on the continent; however, the true toll is estimated to be higher. And with new variants spreading, an increase in new cases is expected in the coming months.
ANTICOV is testing a new potential treatment that combines the well-known antiparasitic nitazoxanide and the inhaled corticosteroid ciclesonide.
The combination has two different mechanisms of action that could work at different stages of infection: one that is potentially active during the first, viral replication stage of SARS-COV-2 infection and one that decreases the likelihood of an inflammatory stage that can start a few days later.
Both drugs are already commercially available and will be affordable and easy to access and administer, if shown to be effective against COVID-19.