Efficacy and safety of herbal medicine (Binafuxi granules) for the common cold with fever: A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase II clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Binafuxi granules are a traditional Uighur medicine (TUM) for treating the common cold with fever. However, high-quality clinical studies supporting its efficacy and safety are lacking. METHODS: In this multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase II clinical trial, patients with common cold and fever were randomly assigned to a high-dose group, low-dose group, and placebo group in a 1:1:1 ratio. Outcomes were time to fever relief, time to fever clearance, proportion of afebrile patients, time to symptom disappearance, rate of symptom disappearance, effective rate, emergency drug usage and safety assessment. RESULTS: A total of 235 patients were recruited. Of these, 234 were included in the full analysis set (FAS), and 217 were included in the per-protocol set (PPS). In the FAS analysis, the median time to fever relief was 6.00 h, 5.54 h and 10.65 h (P = 0.31) in the high-dose group, low-dose group and placebo group, respectively. The median time to fever clearance was 18.29 h, 20.08 h and 25.00 h (P = 0.0018), respectively, and the proportion of afebrile patients was 92.4%, 89.7% and 71.4% (P = 0.0002), respectively. There was a significant difference in the disappearance time and disappearance rate of all symptoms and of individual symptoms. No serious adverse events were found. CONCLUSIONS: Binafuxi granules can dose-dependently shorten the fever course and improve clinical symptoms in patients suffering from the common cold with fever. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial was registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR-IIR-17013379).