Efficacy and Safety of a Single-Dose Mebendazole 500 mg Chewable, Rapidly-Disintegrating Tablet for Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura Infection Treatment in Pediatric Patients: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Phase 3 Study

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2017 Dec;97(6):1851-1856. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0108. Epub 2017 Aug 31.

Abstract

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the efficacy and safety of a new chewable, rapidly-disintegrating mebendazole (MBZ) 500 mg tablet for Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura infection treatment. Pediatric patients (1-15 years; N = 295; from Ethiopia and Rwanda) excreting A. lumbricoides and/or T. trichiura eggs were enrolled. The study had a screening phase (3 days), a double-blind treatment phase (DBP, 19 days), and an open-label phase (OLP, 7 days). Patients received MBZ or placebo on day 1 of DBP and open-label MBZ on day 19 ± 2 after stool sample collection. Cure rates (primary endpoint), defined as species-specific egg count of 0 at the end of DBP, were significantly higher in the MBZ group than placebo for A. lumbricoides (83.7% [72/86; 95% CI: 74.2%; 90.8%] versus 11.1% [9/81; 95% CI: 5.2%; 20.1%], P < 0.001) and for T. trichiura (33.9% [42/124; 95% CI: 25.6%; 42.9%] versus 7.6% [9/119; 95% CI: 3.5%; 13.9%], P < 0.001). Egg reduction rates (secondary endpoint) were significantly higher in the MBZ group than placebo for A. lumbricoides (97.9% [95% CI: 94.4; 99.9] versus 19.2% [95% CI: -5.9; 41.5]; P < 0.001) and T. trichiura (59.7% [95% CI: 33.9; 78.8] versus 10.5% [95% CI: -16.8; 32.9]; P = 0.003). Treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) in MBZ group occurred in 6.3% (9/144) of patients during DBP and 2.5% (7/278) during OLP. No deaths, serious TEAEs, or TEAEs leading to discontinuations were reported. A 500 mg chewable MBZ tablet was more efficacious than placebo for the treatment of A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura infections in pediatric patients, and no safety concerns were identified.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial, Phase III
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Animals
  • Antinematodal Agents / administration & dosage
  • Antinematodal Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Ascariasis / drug therapy*
  • Ascaris lumbricoides / drug effects
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Ethiopia
  • Feces / parasitology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Mebendazole / administration & dosage
  • Mebendazole / therapeutic use*
  • Parasite Egg Count
  • Rwanda
  • Species Specificity
  • Tablets / therapeutic use
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Trichuriasis / drug therapy*
  • Trichuris / drug effects

Substances

  • Antinematodal Agents
  • Tablets
  • Mebendazole