Declared competing interests of authors: Sebastian L Johnston has received institutional funding for a clinical trial and consultant compensation from Centocor, Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline and Synairgen; institutional funding for a research grant and consultant compensation from Chiesi, Boehringer Ingelheim and Novartis; and consultant compensation from Grünenthal. He is also a shareholder in Synairgen and has nine relevant licensed patents and one relevant patent pending. Christopher Brightling has received institutional grants and consultant compensation from GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Boehringher Ingleheim, Novartis, Chiesi and Roche/Genentech. Dave Singh has received grants and personal fees from Almirall, AstraZeneca, Boehringher Ingleheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Glenmark, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, NAPP, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda, Teva, Theravance and Verona, and personal fees from Genentech and Skyepharma. Bernard Higgins has taken the role of local principal investigator for multicentre studies funded by Novartis and Roche. Christopher Corrigan has received a grant and personal fees for attendance at scientific conferences and payments for lectures from Allergy Therapeutics; a grant and personal fees from Novartis for research collaborations and consultancy not connected with the current research; a grant for attendance at scientific conferences from Stallergenes, Boehringer Ingelheim and Diagenics; and personal fees from AstraZeneca for speaking at conferences. Rekha Chaudhuri reports a grant and personal fees for attendance at scientific conferences and advisory board meetings: Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Astra-Zeneca, Teva and GlaxoSmithKline.
Published October 2016 DOI: 10.3310/eme03080This report should be referenced as follows:Johnston SL, Szigeti M, Cross M, Brightling C, Chaudhuri R, Harrison T, et al. A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy of oral azithromycin as a supplement to standard care for adult patients with acute exacerbations of asthma (the AZALEA trial). Efficacy Mech Eval 2016;3(8). This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (www.publicationethics.org/).
Efficacy and Mechanism EvaluationEditorial contact: nihredit@southampton.ac.ukThe full EME archive is freely available to view online at www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/eme. Print-on-demand copies can be purchased from the report pages of the NIHR Journals Library website: www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk
Criteria for inclusion in the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation journalReports are published in Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) if (1) they have resulted from work for the EME programme, and (2) they are of a sufficiently high scientific quality as assessed by the reviewers and editors.
EME programmeThe Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) programme was set up in 2008 as part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) coordinated strategy for clinical trials. The EME pro...