About OPACE
Azithromycin is a valuable antibiotic. In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it is often used as a prevention treatment rather than to treat active infection. We want to prescribe azithromycin where it has benefit, but avoid unnecessary side effects and reduce the chances of bacteria becoming resistant to it.
Currently, there isn’t much evidence to show what happens when azithromycin is stopped either completely, or just temporarily over the summer in people with COPD. This trial aims to establish the effects of stopping azithromycin prevention in people whose COPD is more stable, who have been taking azithromycin for at least 3 months.
We will compare:
i) Continuing azithromycin, with
li) Stopping azithromycin either completely, or
iii) Stopping over the summer only and continuing azithromycin over the winter.
We will compare effects of these three interventions (trial arms) on your COPD flare-ups, symptoms and quality of life and also find out what factors may affect how individual participants respond.
Please click on the downloads below for further information.
You may be contacted directly by your local GP practice or hospital, if they are recruiting participants for OPACE.
You may be sent an invitation letter to the trial after confirming vour interest in joining the trial, explaining the study to you, checking whether this trial is suitable for you, and helping you to participate.
Please view the map below showing all active sites across the UK so you can see whether there is an active GP or hospital site running the OPACE trial near you. If there is an active site close to you, please contact that clinical team to find out whether you may be eligible to participate in the trial.
You can email [email protected], to ask for contact details of the nearest OPACE trial site to you. Please put PATIENT SIGN UP in the email title.
Welcome to the first OPACE newsletter! Many thanks to you all for your hard work and support in this trial. SITES UPDATE We currently have 12 research sites active for OPACE, which include: Primary Care Sites Secondary Care Sites · Heath Lane Surgery · Vauxhall Primary Health Care · Knutsford Medical Partnership · […]
As of 26th Sep 2023, we are pleased to confirm final approvals have been received from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Research Ethics Committee (REC), and Health Research Authority (HRA) for the OPACE trial to proceed. What happens next? Following approvals, we can start initiating and activating sites to begin […]