A clinical trial to treat dengue fever with a new medicine, Celgosivir, has been initiated at Department of Infectious Diseases, Singapore General Hospital (SGH) together with researchers at the Program for Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS).
CELADEN is a proof-of-concept clinical trial that will investigate whether a safe medicine derived from the seeds of Castanospermum australe, commonly known as the Moreton Bay Chestnut tree, can be used to treat dengue fever and prevent progression to severe disease.

Why do we need this trial?

About 100 million people are infected with dengue each year. There were about 5,330 reported cases in Singapore in 2011. At present there are no approved cures for dengue. Treatment is supportive, even for severe dengue. This is the first time an antiviral medicine is being tested as a potential dengue fever treatment in Singapore. This trial will test if Celgosivir can reduce the amount of virus, fever and pain. This approach is different from dengue vaccines, which cannot be used to treat a dengue patient when the illness has set in.

Why Celgosivir?

Test tube experiments at Duke-NUS have shown that Celgosivir inhibits all four serotypes of dengue virus and it also protects mice from dying of dengue. Celgosivir is a safe medicine as it was previously tested in the United States, Canada, and Europe for other viral infections for up to 8 months. Celgosivir is taken orally, so its easy to consume. If you suspect that you are suffering from dengue fever and have had fever for only a day or so, you may have the opportunity to participate in this groundbreaking trial.

A simple blood test is used at participating polyclinics and GP clinics to identify early dengue patients for referral to the CELADEN trial. The staff at the Investigational Medicine Unit (IMU) located at SGH will explain the details and answer any questions.

The CELADEN trial aims to recruit 50 dengue patients between the age of 21 and 65 who meet trial criteria. Selected participants will be allowed stay for 5 days in the treatment suites in SGH (equivalent to an A Class ward) and will be closely followed up for 3 short visits after discharge. The medicine and treatment are free of charge, and you will be receive a cash payment for your time and transportation costs.

The CELADEN clinical trial is approved by the ethics board of Singapore Health Services and the Health Sciences Authority of Singapore. CELADEN is funded by The STOP Dengue Translational Clinical Research program grant obtained from the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council and the National Research Foundation.