Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: The AZIthromycin in Severe ASThma (AZISAST) Study: a Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Parallel-group Study Evaluating the Efficacy, Safety and Cost-effectiveness of Azithromycin as add-on Therapy in Adult Subjects With Severe Persistent Asthma, Who Remain Inadequately Controlled Despite GINA (2006) Step 4 or 5 Therapy
Brief Summary: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of azithromycin as add-on therapy in adult subjects with severe persistent asthma, who remain inadequately controlled despite GINA (2006) step 4 or 5 therapy.


Options:
A: Inclusion criteria

Patients meeting all of the following criteria will be considered for admission to the study:

* Adults, either sex, ages 18-55 years or age 56 to 65 with \< 20 pack year smoking history or \>65 with \<5 pack year smoking history
* Patients with a documented history of asthma for \>6 consecutive months, and
* Patients presenting within 48 hours (of initial presentation to medical care) with an acute deterioration in asthma control (increased wheeze, dyspnea and/or cough and/or reduced PEF) and requiring a course of oral steroids
* Patients with a PEF or FEV1 less than 80% of predicted normal or patient's best at presentation, at recruitment or in the time elapsed between presentation and recruitment
* Patients must be able to complete diaries and quality of life questionnaires.
* Patients must sign and date an informed consent prior to any study procedures.

Exclusion criteria

Patients presenting with any of the following will not be included in the study:

* Patients with known prolongation of the QT interval, a history of torsades de pointes, congenital long QT syndrome, bradyarrhythmias or uncompensated heart failure, patients on drugs known to prolong the QT interval and patients with ongoing proarrhythmic conditions such as uncorrected hypokalemia or hypomagnesemia, clinically significant bradycardia, and patients receiving Class IA (quinidine, procainamide) or Class III (dofetilide, aminodarone, sotalol) antiarrhythmic agents.
* Smokers aged 56-65 with a \>20 pack year history, or aged \>65 with \>5 pack year history
* Patients requiring immediate placement in ICU
* Patients who used oral or systemic antibiotics within 28 days prior to enrolment
* Patients with known impaired hepatic function (ALT/AST \> 2 ULN)
* Patients with significant lung disease (including COPD) other than asthma
* Patients with \> 20mg oral corticosteroid maintenance therapy
* Patients requiring other antibiotic therapy
* Patients who are receiving other medications or who have other disease conditions or infections that could interfere with the evaluation of drug efficacy or safety
* Women who are breast-feeding or are pregnant, as demonstrated by a urine pregnancy test carried out before exposure to study medication or the start of any study procedure that could pose a risk to the foetus
* Patients with suspected or known hypersensitivity to, or suspected serious adverse reaction to Azithromycin or any of the macrolide or ketolide class of antibiotics, erythromycin or to any excipients thereof
* Patients who have received treatment with any other investigational drug within 1 month prior to study entry, or have such treatment planned for the study period during treatment and follow up phase
* Patients with a concomitant condition (including clinically relevant cardiovascular, hepatic, neurologic, endocrine, or other major systemic disease) making implementation of the protocol or interpretation of the study results difficult
* Patients with mental conditions rendering them unable to understand the nature, scope, and possible consequences of the study.
* Patients unlikely to comply with the protocol, e.g., uncooperative attitude, inability to return for follow-up visits.
* No subject will be allowed to enrol in this study more than once.
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* 12-71 months of age.
* Recurrent significant wheezing in the past year (any of the following):

  * \>3 episodes, ≥1 of which was clinically significant\*; OR
  * \>2 clinically significant\* episodes; OR
  * \>4 months of daily controller therapy AND \>1 clinically significant\* episode.
  * \* Clinically significant episode: requiring any of the following: (1) systemic corticosteroids (oral or injectable), (2) unscheduled physician office visit, (3) ED visit, (4) urgent care visit, or (5) hospitalization.
* Up to date with immunizations, including varicella (unless the subject has already had clinical varicella). If the subject needs varicella vaccine, this will be arranged with the primary care physician and must be received prior to randomization.
* Willingness to provide informed consent by the child's parent or guardian.

Exclusion Criteria:

Participants who meet any of the following criteria are NOT eligible for enrollment, but may be re-enrolled if these exclusion criteria are resolved:

* \>4 courses of systemic corticosteroids in past 12 months.
* More than 1 hospitalization for wheezing illnesses within the preceding 12 months.
* Use of long-term controller medications for asthma, including inhaled corticosteroids, leukotriene modifiers, cromolyn/nedocromil, or theophylline for more than 8 months (cumulative use) in the past 12 months.
* Current use of higher than step 2 NAEPP asthma guideline therapy (e.g. medium-high dose ICS alone or combination therapy of low-medium-high dose ICS + LABA, montelukast, theophylline or cromolyn). NOTE: children who have evidence of well-controlled symptoms immediately preceding study entry while receiving Step 2 controller therapy (presence of self-reported symptoms on average no more than 2 times per week and less than 2 nights per month of nocturnal awakenings, requiring albuterol, during the 4 weeks preceding visit 1) may be enrolled and will have their controller therapy discontinued upon study entry.
* Use of OCS in the past 2 weeks.
* Daily symptoms or \>2 nocturnal awakenings, requiring albuterol, on average in the last 2 weeks.
* Use of antibiotics in the past month.
* Current treatment with antibiotics for diagnosed sinus disease.
* Participation presently or in the past month in another investigational drug trial.
* Evidence that the family may be unreliable or nonadherent, or may move from the clinical center area before trial completion.
* Contraindication of use of systemic corticosteroids or azithromycin.
* Clinically relevant gastroesophageal reflux.
* Concurrent medical conditions other than asthma that are likely to require oral or injectable corticosteroids during the study.
* If receiving allergy shots, change in dose within the past 3 months.

Participants who meet any of the following criteria are NOT eligible for enrollment, and may not be re-enrolled:

* Gestation less than late preterm as defined as birth before 34 weeks gestational age.
* Presence of lung disease other than asthma, such as cystic fibrosis and BPD. Evaluation during the screening process will assure that an adequate evaluation of other lung diseases has been performed.
* Presence of other significant medical illnesses (cardiac, liver, gastrointestinal, endocrine) that would place the study subject at increased risk of participating in the study.
* Immunodeficiency disorders.
* History of respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation.
* History of hypoxic seizure.
* History of significant adverse reaction to any study medication ingredient.
* The child has significant developmental delay/failure to thrive, defined as crossing of two major percentile lines during the last year for age and gender. If a child plots less than the 10th percentile for age and gender, a growth chart for the previous year will be obtained from the child's primary care provider.
C: Inclusion criteria :

Adult and adolescent (12 years of age or older) participants with a physician diagnosis of asthma for \>=12 months, based on the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2014 guidelines and the following criteria:

* Participants with severe asthma and a well-documented, regular prescribed treatment of maintenance corticosteroids in the 6 months prior to Visit 1 and using a stable OCS dose (ie, no change of OCS dose) for 4 weeks prior to Visit 1. Participants must be taking 5 to 35 mg/day of prednisone/prednisolone, or the equivalent, at Visit 1 and at the randomization visit. In addition, the participants must agree to switch to study-required prednisone/prednisolone as their OCS and use it per protocol for the duration of the study.
* Existing treatment with high-dose inhaled corticosteroid (ICS; \>500 mcg total daily dose of fluticasone propionate or equivalent) in combination with a second controller (ie, long-acting beta agonist \[LABA\], leukotriene receptor antagonist \[LTRA\]) for at least 3 months with a stable dose of ICS for \>=1 month prior to Visit 1. In addition, participants requiring a third controller for their asthma are considered eligible for this study, and it should also be used for at least 3 months with a stable dose \>= 1 month prior to Visit 1.
* A forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) \<80% of predicted normal for adults and \<=90% of predicted normal for adolescents at Visit 1.
* Evidence of asthma as documented by either: reversibility of at least 12% and 200 mL in FEV1 after the administration of 200 to 400 mcg (2 to 4 inhalations of albuterol/salbutamol or levalbuterol/levosalbutamol, or of a nebulized solution of albuterol/salbutamol or levalbuterol/levosalbutamol, if considered as a standard office practice) before randomization or documented in the 12 months prior to Visit 1 OR airway hyperresponsiveness (methacholine: provocative concentration that causes a positive reaction \[PC20\] of \<8 mg/mL) documented in the 12 months prior to Visit 1.

Exclusion criteria:

* Participants \<12 years of age or the minimum legal age for adolescents in the country of the investigative site, whichever is higher (for those countries where local regulations permit enrollment of adults only, participant recruitment will be restricted to those who were \>=18 years of age).
* Participants who weighed \<30.0 kg.
* Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or other lung diseases (eg, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Churg-Strauss Syndrome, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, cystic fibrosis) which may impair lung function.
* Clinical evidence or imaging (eg, chest X-ray, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) within 12 months of Visit 1 with clinically significant findings of lung disease(s) other than asthma, as per local standard of care.
* A participant who experiences a deterioration of asthma that results in emergency treatment or hospitalization within 4 weeks of Screening Visit 1.
* A participant who requires 12 puffs or more of rescue medication on any 1 day in the week prior to Visit 1.
* A participant who has experienced an upper or lower respiratory tract infection within the 4 weeks prior to screening.
* Current smoker or cessation of smoking within 6 months prior to Visit 1.
* Previous smoker with a smoking history \>10 pack-years.
* Comorbid disease that might interfere with the evaluation of the investigational medicinal product.

The above information is not intended to contain all considerations relevant to a participant's potential participation in a clinical trial.
D: Inclusion Criteria:

1. patients who have given written informed consent
2. males or females of any race
3. 18-75 years of age
4. with the diagnosis of persistent asthma ≥ 1 year duration at screening and a history consistent with GINA step 4 or 5 clinical features
5. receiving high dose ICS plus inhaled LABA for at least 6 months prior to screening
6. patients who have suffered multiple (i.e. at least two) independent documented severe asthma exacerbations within the previous 12 months
7. patients must be never-smokers or ex-smokers with a smoking history of ≤ 10 pack-years.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. females who are pregnant or who are breastfeeding
2. patients with severe bronchiectasis
3. patients with active tuberculosis or non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections (NTM)
4. patients with significant underlying medical conditions (e.g. infection, hematological disease, malignancy, neurologic, renal, hepatic, coronary heart disease or other cardiovascular disease, endocrinologic or gastrointestinal disease) within the previous 3 months
5. who are unable to perform spirometry or complete a patient diary or complete questionnaires
6. patients with known hypersensitivity to azithromycin or other macrolide antibiotics
7. patients who's heart rate corrected QT interval is prolonged
8. patients who have - in the judgement of the investigator - a clinically relevant laboratory abnormality
9. patients currently treated with macrolide antibiotics or recent macrolide treatment (in the past twelve weeks)
10. anti-IgE treatment

Answer: D