ClinicalTrials.gg
TerminatedNCT00832559VLA-X06Updated Jul 19, 2019

A Study of the Intratumoural Administration of CAVATAK to Head and Neck Cancer Patients (VLA-X06)

A Phase 1 interventional study of CVA21 in Head and Neck Cancer, sponsored by Viralytics. Terminated at 3 sites in Australia. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-07-19.

Sponsored by Viralytics · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was terminated
Poor recruitment rate.

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Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
4
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-13

Among 76 studies in Head and Neck Neoplasms with a site in Australia — 21 open to participants now, 36 under way, 7 of them phase 3. Head and Neck Neoplasms · Australia.

Enrollment
69th of 70
4 · median 166
Started
2009
the only one that year
Phase 1
16 of 76
3 open now
Registered
8th of 76
by date

Among the 76 studies in Head and Neck Neoplasms with a site in Australia, this one is the 69th largest by enrollment of the 70 interventional ones that give a count, is the only one that started in 2009, is one of 16 in phase 1, and was the 8th registered.

Head and Neck Neoplasms

2,713 studies on the registry are indexed under Head and Neck Neoplasms; 596 are open to participants now.

Browse Head and Neck Neoplasms studies →

Open to participants now

21 of the 76 studies in Head and Neck Neoplasms with a site in Australia are open now. Recruiting first, the newest first:

16 more — sign in →

All 21 open studies →

A study can be open while its sites in Australia have not opened yet or have stopped. Only those recruiting at a site in Australia →

Who these studies take

Of the 453 Head and Neck Neoplasms studies recruiting now, 345 (76%) set no upper age limit and 51 (11%) stop at 75 or younger; 21 take children under 18; 27 take healthy volunteers.

This study: 18 Years and older · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.

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02

Study summary

This study is designed to assess the safety and initial indications of efficacy resulting from multiple doses of CAVATAK injected directly into solid tumours of the Head and Neck that have been confirmed to express ICAM-1 and DAF.

CAVATAK (Coxsackievirus A21) is a naturally occurring common cold virus that preclinical research indicates can preferentially infect and kill cancer cells expressing the receptors ICAM-1 and/or DAF. This virus is known to cause self limiting upper respiratory infections and has been used previously to challenge therapies against the common cold. The virus is not generically modified.

The study proposes to administer CAVATAK to three cohorts each of three patients. The first cohort will receive a single dose, the second cohort will receive three doses, and the final cohort will receive six doses. There will a 48 hour interval between repeated doses.

The primary objective of the study is to determine the safety and efficacy of CVA21 given by intratumoural injection in the treatment of recurrent, unresectable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck by measuring primary and field tumour status and adverse effects.

Secondary objectives of the study are:

  1. Indirect measurements of efficacy by measuring appropriate biomarkers in serum and tumour biopsy samples for viral replication, induction of apoptosis and anti-tumour immune responses.
  2. To determine the time course of potential primary and secondary viraemia.
  3. To characterise the time course of the anti-CVA21 antibody response after administration of CVA21
03

Conditions studied

  • Head and Neck Cancer

Keywords

  • CAVATAK
  • Coxsackievirus A21
  • CVA21
  • Oncolytic virotherapy
04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Patients who are willing and able to provide written to participate in the study.
  2. Patients with confirmed or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head or neck currently documented as "progressive disease"
  3. Head and neck cancer patients with at least one tumour mass where the tumour mass is accessible for intratumoural injection and can be measured at periodic intervals for tumour size using callipers and/or ultrasound.
  4. All patients to have histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (excluding nasopharyngeal) that had recurred or after surgery and/or radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy.
  5. The longest diameter of the target injectable tumour being no greater than 6 cm or no less than 1 cm in the longest diameter.
  6. The tumour mass to be intratumourally injected to be easily accessible for injection and amenable to measurement by physical examination and / or radiographically.
  7. Patients to be 18 years or older
  8. Absence of circulating antibodies to CVA21 (titre \< 1:16).
  9. Adequate haematological, hepatic and renal function, defined as:

    > 1.5 x 109/L, > 100 x 109/L \< 20µmol/L, \< 2.5 times the Calculated > 30 mL/minute

    Adequate immunologic function, defined as:

    Serum IgG > 5g/L T cell subsets within normal limits

  10. Fertile males and females must agree to the use of an adequate form of . Hormonal contraceptives should be supplemented with an additional barrier method. Negative pregnancy test is required in female patients of .

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients receiving radiotherapy to the proposed injected tumour or radiotherapy within the last 3 weeks
  2. Performance status > 1 on the scale
  3. \< 3 months.
  4. Pregnancy or breastfeeding.
  5. Primary or secondary immunodeficiency, including disease, and immunosuppressive doses of (e.g. prednisolone > 7.5mg per day) or other immunosuppressive medications including cyclosporine, azathioprine, interferons, within the past 4 weeks.
  6. Positive serology for , or .
  7. Splenectomy.
  8. Presence of uncontrolled infection.
  9. Any uncontrolled medical condition that in the opinion of the Investigator is likely to place the patient at unacceptable risk during the study or reduce their ability to complete the study
  10. Participation in another study requiring administration of an drug or biological agent within the last 4 weeks
  11. Known allergy to treatment medication or its
  12. Tumours to be injected lying in mucosal regions or close to an airway, major blood vessel or spinal cord that, in the opinion of the Investigators, could cause occlusion or compression in the case of tumour swelling or erosion into a major vessel in the case of necrosis
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(21)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Relapsed and refractory

Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

Excipients

The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
4 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    CVA21

    CVA21

    Biological: CVA21

Interventions

  • BiologicalCVA21

    1, 3 or 6 doses of CAVATAK (10\^9 TCID50) at 48 hour intervals.

    Also known as: CAVATAK, Coxsackievirus A21

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Safety and tolerability of patients to multiple doses of CAVATAK

    safety and tolerability

    Time frame: 1 year

07

Study locations

3 sites
  • St Vincents Hospital
    Darlinghurst, New South Wales 2010, Australia
  • Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital
    Newcastle, New South Wales 2310, Australia
  • Monash Medical Centre
    Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Jan 2009 to primary completion in Jul 2011, 30 months.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jan 29, 2009
First posted
Jan 30, 2009
StartActual
Jan 27, 2009
Primary completionActual
Jul 28, 2011
CompletionActual
Jul 28, 2011
Last update
Jul 19, 2019
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 19, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00832559
Lead sponsor
Viralytics
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 30, 2009
Start date
Jan 27, 2009
Primary completion
Jul 28, 2011
Completion
Jul 28, 2011
Last update
Jul 19, 2019

Study contacts

Stephen Ackland, MBBS FRACP
principal investigator · Principal Investigator
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is terminated, as verified in Jul 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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