Clinical Research Directory

A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine Zavicefta After it is Released Into the Markets in Korea

The purpose of this study is to learn about the safety and effectiveness of Zavicefta once released into the markets in Korea. This study is to learn about Zavicefta in patients with difficult types of infections in the abdomen, urinary tract and pneumonia which could have come from hospitalizations. This study was required by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) of Korea's regulations.

Trial on a Strategy Combining Rapid Diagnostic Testing and Antimicrobial Stewardship to Improve Antibiotic Use in Patients With Hospital-acquired Pneumonia.

Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) is the second most frequent hospital-acquired infection in the US and Europe and accounts for a large proportion of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals. Conventional methods to identify causative microorganisms (virus, bacteria) are time-consuming and sometimes inaccurate, leading to inadequate treatment in a large proportion of HAP patients. The FILMARRAY® Pneumonia Panel (FA-PP, bioMérieux) is an automated diagnostic device, allowing detection of multiple pathogens and resistance markers in one hour. Strategies combining rapid diagnostic testing and intervention of specialists in infectious diseases (i.e. antimicrobial stewardship -AMS - experts) showed significant synergistic impact on antibiotic use, mortality and costs in bloodstream infections. The trial hypothesis is that a strategy combining antimicrobial stewardship and FA-PP improves quality of care in HAP patients, as compared to antimicrobial stewardship alone. The trial will include patients hospitalized for ≥ 48 hours, aged 18 years or older, who have criteria of pneumonia: new lung infiltrate on a chest-x ray, plus evidence that the infiltrate is of an infectious origin (i.e. new onset of fever and/or purulent sputum and/or leukocytosis and/or decline in oxygenation). After informed consent, participants will be randomly allocated to either the intervention or the control arm. In the control arm, management of HAP patients will include clinical examination and conventional microbiological tests. Antibiotic choice will be discussed between AMS experts and the physician in charge of the patient. In the intervention arm, in addition to the procedures above, the strategy will include rapid testing using the FA-PP on a respiratory specimen, obtained by either invasive or non-invasive sampling. No additional invasive procedures will be required for the study, and FA-PP will be performed on samples collected as part as routine care. Investigators will visit the patient at inclusion, on day 3 and on day 30 (or at hospital discharge) to collect data on comorbidities, clinical outcomes, results of microbiological tests and antibiotics. At the end of follow-up, we will compare the number of days on broad-spectrum antibiotics, the incidence of negative outcomes, the length of stay and costs in the two arms. The use of the FA-PP is expected to prompt early adjustment of antibiotic therapy, improve outcomes, decrease length of stay, and to reduce the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. The antibiotic saving may reduce the selection pressure, incidence of colonization with multidrug-resistant bacteria and incidence of hospital-acquired superinfections, both at an individual and hospital level. Moreover, this trial relies on the intervention of multidisciplinary AMS teams that are currently being implemented in many health facilities. Their transversal position offers opportunities for recruitment of patients from a wide range of medical and surgical departments. This project evaluates the feasibility of clinical trials based on the intervention of these teams, and will provide a high level of evidence regarding their impact on the prognosis of patients, appropriate use of antibiotics, and antimicrobial resistance.

Acyclovir in Ventilated Patients With Pneumonia and HSV-1 in BAL

Almost 90 out of 100 people carry herpes simplex viruses (HSV). Once a person has been infected with the herpes viruses, he or she can't get rid of them for the rest of her/his life. For the most part, the viruses are in a dormant state. Only when the immune system is weakened, for example in the case of a serious illness or stress, are the viruses reactivated. They then mainly cause cold sores, which are harmless for healthy people and usually heal without therapy. However, especially in people with a weakened immune system, HSV can also cause serious infections, such as meningitis. In almost every second mechanically ventilated patient in intensive care who has pneumonia, HSV can be detected in the respiratory tract. This is caused by reactivation of the viruses as a result of the severe underlying disease and stress during intensive care therapy. Whether treatment of the herpes viruses (e.g. with acyclovir) is necessary in this situation and helps the patients to cure has not been clarified, especially as acyclovir can also cause side effects such as a deterioration in kidney function. Currently, the physicians decide to treat the herpes viruses in about half of the patients. Several studies have shown that patients for whom the physician decided to treat the viruses survived more often. However, all of these studies looked at the course of the disease only retrospectively and thus are subject to many biases (including physician selection of who receives treatment, missing data). A definitive conclusion as to whether herpesvirus therapy can be recommended cannot be drawn without doubt from these studies. Therefore, the investigators would like to investigate in a randomized controlled trial, i.e. patients are randomly assigned to the experimental (therapy of herpesviruses) or control group (no therapy of herpesviruses), the effect of therapy with acyclovir on survival in ventilated intensive care patients with lower respiratory tract infection (pneumonia) in whom a large amount of HSV was found in the respiratory tract. The goal of the study is to provide clarity on whether therapy will help patients recover.

EaRly impAct theraPy With Ceftazidime-avibactam Via rapID Diagnostics

The goal of this clinical trial is to propose a seamless intervention linking rapid bacterial isolate identification and antibiotic resistance gene detection and targeted antibiotic prescription to minimise time between infection onset and appropriate treatment in patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa or carbapenemase producing Enterobacterales infections. This is an investigator initiated trial. The primary hypothesis is that these interventions will lead to improved clinical outcomes amongst patients with hospital-acquired bloodstream infection, hospital-acquired pneumonia or ventilator-associated pneumonia due to carbapenem non-susceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Enterobacterales, compared to standard antibiotic susceptibility testing. Patients will be randomised to either a control or intervention arm. Patients randomised to the intervention arm will have relevant specimens analysed by rapid microbiological diagnostics and will have early availability of ceftazidime-avibactam if appropriate. Patients randomised to the control arm, will have samples analysed by clinical microbiology laboratories using standard of care diagnostics. Antibiotics will be available to these patients as per usual institutional practice.

Chinese Hospital Acquired Pneumonia Collaboration Network: Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Treatment

The goal of this prospective and observatory study is to learn about the pathogen, clinical manifestations, prognosis, treatment and antibiotic resistance of bacteria in hospital-acquired pneumonia patients in China. The main purposes of this study are: 1. clarify the regional differences and changes over time in the pathogen spectrum and antibiotic resistance rate among HAP patients in China; 2. build a continuously optimized nationwide HAP pathogen and antibiotic resistance surveillance network; 3. identify the molecular epidemiology of common pathogens