Intermittent Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy In Patients With Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma

A Phase II Study of Intermittent Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy in Patients With Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma

The purpose of this study is to test the safety and effectiveness of immunotherapy (checkpoint inhibitor therapy) in advanced bladder cancer when given intermittently. An unanswered question with the use of CPI (checkpoint inhibitor) is the duration of therapy required for optimal clinical benefit. In the absence of progressive disease or unacceptable toxicities, there are currently no specified criteria for treatment discontinuation. Strategies to reduce toxicity and maximize benefit require investigation. Thus, novel dosing schedules, early discontinuation considerations, and biomarkers of response are needed to identify patients who can sustain disease regression while off of therapy.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Urothelial Carcinoma
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Pembrolizumab; Drug: Atezolizumab; Drug: Durvalumab; Drug: Nivolumab; Drug: Avelumab

Detailed Description

A phase II study design to investigate the use of any CPI on an intermittent dosing schedule. Patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) who treatment refractory or cisplatin ineligible will receive CPI of choice as per standard dosing. Patients who have initial >/=10% tumor burden reduction will discontinue the CPI until they experience a >/=20% disease progression following 24 weeks +/- 4 weeks of immunotherapy, at which time CPI therapy will be restarted.

All patients who do not meet criteria for the CPI intermittent phase of the study will be treated until unacceptable toxicity or RECIST-defined PD. Patients with RECIST-defined PD may continue CPI therapy at the discretion of the treating MD. These patients will continue with normal imaging every 12 weeks. In cases where a patient is continued on therapy after PD and develops subsequent PD (> 20% increase in sum of target lesions compared to the initial PD tumor measurements, the patient will come off study).

Patients who meet criteria for the intermittent phase (i.e., have >/=10% tumor burden reduction) will not receive CPI therapy. Imaging will continue per protocol (every 12 weeks from the initial date they stopped CPI therapy). Patients who have RECIST defined PD on the intermittent phase should reinitiate CPI therapy. Patients who have a subsequent decrease in tumor burden >/=10% can then restart CPI therapy as per protocol.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 4
• Phase: Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Moshe Ornstein, MD; Phone Number: 1-866-223-8100; Email: TaussigResearch@ccf.org

Study Locations

• United States
  • Ohio
    • Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44195
      • Cleveland Clinic, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Men and women ≥ 18 years of age.
• Histological confirmation of urothelial carcinoma (any histology)
• Advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma.
• Measurable disease as defined by RECIST 1.1 criteria
• Has received at least 24 weeks (+/- 4 weeks) on CPI therapy per standard of care (SOC) for advanced urothelial carcinoma
• Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS) ≥70% (for more information on KPS, please see: http://www.npcrc.org/files/news/karnofsky_performance_scale.pdf)
• Willing and able to provide informed consent.

• Laboratory criteria for study entry must meet the following criteria:

  • Serum creatinine ≤ 2 x ULN OR CrCl ≥ 30 mL/min (measured or calculated using the Cockcroft-Gault formula).
  • Hb ≥ 8.0g/dL
  • AST and ALT ≤ 3.0 x ULN
  • Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 x ULN (except subjects with Gilbert Syndrome, who can have total bilirubin < 3.0 mg/dL)

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of severe hypersensitivity reaction to any monoclonal antibody.
• Patients are excluded if they have known HIV/AIDS.
• Major surgery (eg, cystectomy) less than 28 days prior to the first dose of study drug.
• Any condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalent) or other immunosuppressive medications within 7 days prior to the first dose of study drug. Inhaled steroids and adrenal replacement steroid doses > 10 mg daily prednisone equivalent are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease.
• Known medical condition (eg, a condition associated with diarrhea or acute diverticulitis) that, in the investigator's opinion, would increase the risk associated with study participation or study drug administration or interfere with the interpretation of safety results.
• Pregnant women are excluded from this study because animal studies have demonstrated that PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors can cause fetal harm when administered to pregnant women. Breastfeeding women are excluded from this study because PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors may be excreted in human milk and the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: CPI therapy; Patients will be treated with CPI therapy for at least 24 weeks (+/- 4 weeks) as per standard of care (SOC), at which time those with a tumor burden reduction of 10% or greater will suspend CPI therapy.

Drug: Pembrolizumab; Pembrolizumab 200 mg IV over 30 minutes every 3 weeks; Other Names: KEYTRUDA; Drug: Atezolizumab; Atezolizumab 1200 mg IV over 60 minutes every 3 weeks. (if first dose is tolerated, all subsequent infusions may be delivered over 30 minutes); Other Names: TECENTRIQ; Drug: Durvalumab; Durvalumab 10 mg/kg IV over 60 minutes every 2 weeks.; Other Names: IMFINZI; Drug: Nivolumab; Nivolumab 480mg IV over 30 minutes every 4 weeks; Other Names: OPDIVO; Drug: Avelumab; Avelumab 800 mg IV over 60 minutes every 2 weeks; Other Names: BAVENCIO

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of participants that sustain a response post CPI suspension	Efficiency, as measured by number of participants that sustain a response post CPI suspension. Response is defined as tumor burden reduction of 10% or greater.	at 36 weeks post CPI suspension

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Median Treatment Free Interval (TFI) in months	Median and range TFI in months. Participants will be treated with CPI therapy for at least 24 weeks (+/- 4 weeks) as per standard of care (SOC), at which time those with a tumor burden reduction of 10% or greater will suspend CPI therapy. Participants with a documented increase in ≥ 20% tumor burden (RECIST 1.1 PD) will re-initiate CPI. For those patients who continue to have response, they will remain off therapy.	up to 36 weeks from end of treatment, an average of 24 weeks
Overall response rate (ORR)	Response to re-initiation of CPI therapy as measured by overall response rate (ORR) defined as the percentage of participants who had a Complete Response (CR: Disappearance of all target lesions) or a Partial Response (PR: At least a 30% decrease in the sum of diameters of target lesions) as assessed by RECIST 1.1	up to 36 weeks from end of treatment, an average of 24 weeks
Progression free survival (PFS)	Progression free survival (PFS) defined as the time from randomization to the first documented progressive disease (PD) or death due to any cause, whichever occurred first as assessed by RECIST 1.1 criteria. PD is defined as ≥20% increase in the sum of diameters of target lesions. In addition to the relative increase of 20%, the sum must also have demonstrated an absolute increase of ≥5 mm and the appearance of ≥1 new lesions is also considered PD.	up to 36 weeks from end of treatment, an average of 24 weeks
Overall Survival (OS)	Overall Survival (OS) defined as the time from randomization to death due to any cause	up to 36 weeks from end of treatment, an average of 24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Moshe Ornstein, MD, Cleveland Clinic, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 23, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 8, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): April 17, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 24, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 24, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): March 26, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): January 8, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 5, 2024
• Last Verified: January 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Carcinoma; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors; Nivolumab; Durvalumab; Pembrolizumab; Avelumab; Atezolizumab
• Other Study ID Numbers: CASE6819

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: Summary results are shared in publications

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No