Enhancing Hepatitis C Testing and Treatment Among People Who Inject Drugs Attending Needle and Syringe Programs

Hepatitis C Clinical Trial

— TEMPO  

Official title:

A Multi-centre, Practice-level, Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial to Compare Point-of-care HCV RNA Testing, Dried Blood Spot Testing, and Standard of Care to Enhance Treatment Uptake Among People With HCV Who Have Recently Injected Drugs Attending Needle and Syringe Programs: the TEMPO Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04014179
• Other study ID #: VHCRP1904
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 27, 2022
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2025

Study information

• Verified date: March 2024
• Source: Kirby Institute
• Contact: Elise Tu, PhD
• Phone: 61-2-9385-9000
• Email: etu[@]kirby.unsw.edu.au
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This project aims to evaluate two strategies of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing compared to standard of care among people who inject drugs at needle and syringe program (NSP) services in Australia, to see if it can improve the number of people who start treatment following an HCV diagnosis:

1. HCV testing from collected dried blood spots sent to a central laboratory

2. HCV testing using a point-of-care device at the NSP site

3. HCV testing using standard of care at the NSP site

Description:

The TEMPO study will compare dried blood spot testing and point-of-care HCV RNA testing to standard of care as strategies to enhance HCV treatment uptake among people with HCV and recent injecting drug use attending NSP services. Peer support to enhance engagement and facilitate linkage to nursing care will be provided in the intervention arms of this study.

The study is a cluster randomized controlled trial. The sites (clusters) will be primary NSPs which provide services to people who inject drugs and have capacity to provide hepatitis C treatment services. The sites will be located in Australia.

Eighteen NSPs (the clusters) will be randomly allocated to receive point-of-care HCV RNA testing (6 clusters), dried blood spot testing (6 clusters) or standard of care (6 clusters).

At screening, participants will be tested for HCV infection with dried blood spot, point-of-care or standard of care, depending on cluster randomisation.

Screening will continue until a total of 150 HCV RNA positive participants (~25 participants per site) are enrolled in the dried blood spot arm, 150 HCV RNA positive participants are enrolled in the point-of-care arm, and 150 participants are enrolled in the standard of care arm. Hence a total of 450 HCV RNA positive participants.

HCV RNA negative participants will have no further assessments or visits as part of the study protocol.

Participants who are HCV RNA positive will be enrolled in the follow-up cohort and will be assessed for treatment eligibility. If eligible, they will be treated as per standard of care with a pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS) approved pan-genotypic HCV DAA treatment. Participants will be encouraged to take the first dose on the day of treatment work-up where possible. On-treatment and post-treatment testing and monitoring will be based on the site investigator as per standard clinical practice.

All HCV RNA positive participants will be followed up at 12 weeks, 24 weeks and 12 months post enrolment.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 2700
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2025
• Est. primary completion date: December 31, 2025
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion criteria for participants:

Attendees of the NSP service are eligible for inclusion if the following criteria are met:

1. Provided written informed consent

2. = 18 years of age

3. Recent injecting drug use - defined as self-reported use within the previous six months.

Exclusion criteria for participants:

a. Is unable or unwilling to provide informed consent or abide by the requirements of the study.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Hepatitis
• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis C
• Hepatitis C, Chronic

Intervention

Diagnostic Test:
• Xpert HCV Viral Load Fingerstick
The Cepheid Xpert HCV Viral Load (VL) Fingerstick assay is an in vitro nucleic acid amplification test designed for the quantitation of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) DNA in human whole blood using the automated GeneXpert Systems. The HCV RNA result from the Xpert test will be used to initiate HCV treatment.
• Aptima HCV Quant DX Assay
The Aptima HCV Quant Dx assay is a real-time transcription-mediated amplification test. The assay is used for both detection and quantitation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in fresh and frozen human serum and plasma from HCV-infected individuals, and in this study from dried blood spots. The HCV RNA result from the Aptima assay will be used to initiate HCV treatment.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Australia	UC Adelaide	Adelaide	South Australia
Australia	Wonggangga Turtpandi Aboriginal Primary Health Care Services	Adelaide	South Australia
Australia	Bankstown NSP	Bankstown	New South Wales
Australia	WSLHD Drug Health - Blacktown NSP	Blacktown	New South Wales
Australia	Alcohol and Drug Harm Reduction Biala	Brisbane	Queensland
Australia	Severin St NSP (Youth Link)	Cairns	Queensland
Australia	Coffs Harbour Primary NSP	Coffs Harbour	New South Wales
Australia	Northern DASSA	Elizabeth	South Australia
Australia	Gosford NSP	Gosford	New South Wales
Australia	Grafton Primary NSP	Grafton	New South Wales
Australia	Inala	Inala	Queensland
Australia	Kempsey Primary NSP	Kempsey	New South Wales
Australia	Lismore Primary NSP	Lismore	New South Wales
Australia	Liverpool Southwest NSP	Liverpool	New South Wales
Australia	WSLHD Drug Health - Mt Druitt NSP	Mount Druitt	New South Wales
Australia	Noarlunga Health Precinct	Noarlunga	South Australia
Australia	Kobi House	Toowoomba	Queensland
Australia	Tweed Primary NSP	Tweed Heads	New South Wales
Australia	Orana Centre	Wollongong	New South Wales

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Kirby Institute

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Australia, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Proportion of HCV RNA positive who initiate HCV treatment	To compare the proportion of HCV RNA positive participants who initiate HCV treatment at 12 weeks following enrolment between those who receive point-of-care HCV RNA testing, dried blood spot testing, and standard of care.	12 weeks from Enrolment