Purpose

This Phase 2/3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will evaluate the Objective Response Rate (ORR) of IFx-Hu2.0 as an adjunctive therapy to pembrolizumab in adult participants (≥18 years) with advanced or metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma. A total of 118 participants will be randomized to receive either IFx-Hu2.0 or placebo via intralesional injection in a single lesion, followed by pembrolizumab.

Condition

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  1. At least 18 years of age. 2. Life expectancy equal to or greater than six months. 3. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status < 2. 4. Must be recurrent and/or unresectable Stage III or Stage IV American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) (8th edition) and have histologically confirmed Merkel cell carcinoma 1. Must have at least one injectable lesion equal to or greater than 3 mm. 2. Must have measurable disease as defined by RECIST v1.1. 5. Participants should be CPI naïve i.e., no prior therapy with CPI including but not limited to Pembrolizumab, avelumab, ipilimumab, nivolumab. 6. Tumor tissue from an archival core biopsy or resected site of disease must be provided for biomarker analyses. If archival tissue is not available, then a new biopsy should be performed. 7. Adequate hematological, hepatic, and renal function according to laboratory ranges and medical criteria defined within the study protocol.

Exclusion Criteria

  1. Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with protocol requirements. 2. Participants with known active brain metastases with the exception of treated brain metastases that have imaging proving stability at least 4 weeks prior to the start of study treatment, no new metastases, and not requiring steroids. 3. Participants with recurrent resectable MCC 4. Participants with prior systemic chemotherapy 5. Pregnant or breastfeeding females and females desiring to become pregnant or breastfeed within the timeframe of this study. 6. Active, known, or suspected autoimmune disease. Potential Participants with type I diabetes mellitus, residual hypothyroidism due to autoimmune thyroiditis only requiring hormone replacement, skin disorders (such as vitiligo, psoriasis, or alopecia) not requiring systemic treatment are permitted to enroll. Low-grade autoimmune toxicity is NOT an exclusion under this criterion. 7. A condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalent) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of randomization. Inhaled or topical steroids are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease.

Study Design

Phase
Phase 2/Phase 3
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Treatment Arm
Participants randomized to the treatment arm will receive IFx-Hu2.0 (0.1 mg) via intralesional injection in a single lesion once per week for 3 consecutive weeks. Pembrolizumab (200 mg) will be administered intravenously (IV) on Day 1, followed by administration every 3 weeks during the first year of treatment. In the second year, the pembrolizumab dose will be 400 mg every 6 weeks. Pembrolizumab treatment will continue until progressive disease (PD), unacceptable immune-related toxicities, or for a maximum duration of 2 years.
  • Drug: IFx-Hu2.0
    Therapeutic Classification: • Innate immune agonist Route of Administration: • Intralesional
    Other names:
    • pAc/emm55
  • Drug: Pembrolizumab
    Therapeutic Classification: • Immunotherapy (Immune checkpoint inhibitor) Route of administration: • Intravenous (IV) infusion
    Other names:
    • KEYTRUDA
Placebo Comparator
Control Arm
Participants randomized to the control arm will receive placebo (0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection, USP) via intralesional injection in a single lesion once per week for 3 consecutive weeks. Pembrolizumab (200 mg) will be administered IV on Day 1, followed by administration every 3 weeks during the first year of treatment. In the second year, the dose will be 400 mg every 6 weeks. Pembrolizumab treatment will continue until PD, unacceptable immune-related toxicities, or for a maximum duration of 2 years.
  • Drug: Placebo
    Route of Administration: • Intralesional
  • Drug: Pembrolizumab
    Therapeutic Classification: • Immunotherapy (Immune checkpoint inhibitor) Route of administration: • Intravenous (IV) infusion
    Other names:
    • KEYTRUDA

Recruiting Locations

USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Los Angeles, California 90033
Contact:
In Gino, MD
Gino.In@med.usc.ed

University of California San Francisco - Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
San Francisco, California 94143
Contact:
Martha Arriaga
415-309-0105
Martha.Arriaga@ucsf.edu

Stanford Health Care - Skin Cancer Program
Stanford, California 94304
Contact:
Phuong Pham
(650) 725-9810
ppham5@stanford.edu

University of Colorado Hospital - Anschutz Cancer Pavilion
Aurora, Colorado 80045
Contact:
Martin Parks
303-724-6240
MelanomaClinicalResearch@olucdenver.onmicrosoft.com

Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center
Jacksonville, Florida 32224
Contact:
904-953-2000

Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Miami, Florida 33136
Contact:
Kendal Payne
305-243-1084
CRScutaneous@miami.edu

Moffitt Cancer Center
Tampa, Florida 33612
Contact:
Inayaa Johnson
813-745-8336
inayaa.johnson@moffitt.org

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
Contact:
Aiden Bergin
617-632-6571
aidan_bergin@dfci.harvard.edu

Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center
Rochester, Minnesota 55905
Contact:
Madalyn Helvig
507-266-9955
helvig.madalyn@mayo.edu

Hackensack University Medical Center
Hackensack, New Jersey 07601
Contact:
Nicole Caltabellotta
551-996-1777
OncologyResearchReferral@hmhn.org

Atlantic Health System
Morristown, New Jersey 07960
Contact:
Maureen Nowakowski
973-971-5569
maureen.nowakowski@atlantichealth.org

East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina 27834
Contact:
Shahana Patel
252-744-5418
patelsha22@ecu.edu

UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15232
Contact:
Kaitlin Bocian
412-623-4115
Bocianka2@upmc.edu

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas 77384
Contact:
Shawnee Carpenter
713-792-6363
scarpenter@mdanderson.org

Inova Schar Cancer
Fairfax, Virginia 22031
Contact:
Stephanie Bebber
571-472-4724
Stephanie.vanbebber@inova.org

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia 23298
Contact:
Jon Radar
804-828-1545
raderjp2@vcu.edu

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, Washington 98109
Contact:
Maya Yousefiasl
206-606-7172
maryamyo@fredhutch.org

West Virginia University
Morgantown, West Virginia 26506
Contact:
Meg Zafiris
margaret.zafiris@hsc.wvu.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
TuHURA Biosciences, Inc.

Study Contact

Amit Pande, MD
8138756600
clinicaltrials@tuhurabio.com

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.