ClinicalTrials.gg
Active, not recruitingNCT02201992Updated Dec 19, 2025

Crizotinib in Treating Patients With Stage IB-IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Cancer That Has Been Removed by Surgery and ALK Fusion Mutations (An ALCHEMIST Treatment Trial)

A Phase 3 interventional study of Clinical Observation and Crizotinib in ALK Gene Rearrangement, ALK Gene Translocation and ALK Positive, sponsored by ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group. Active, not recruiting at 1,618 sites in 3 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-19.

Sponsored by ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
166
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This randomized phase III trial studies how well crizotinib works in treating patients with stage IB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer that has been removed by surgery and has a mutation in a protein called anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK). Mutations, or changes, in ALK can make it very active and important for tumor cell growth and progression. Crizotinib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the ALK protein from working. Crizotinib may be an effective treatment for patients with non-small cell lung cancer and an ALK fusion mutation.

Read the detailed description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To evaluate whether adjuvant therapy with crizotinib will result in improved overall survival (OS) for patients with stage IB >= 4 cm, II and IIIA, ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following surgical resection.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To evaluate and compare disease-free survival (DFS) associated with crizotinib.

II. To evaluate the safety profile of crizotinib when given in the adjuvant therapy setting.

III. To collect tumor tissue and blood specimens for future research.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

ARM A: Patients receive crizotinib orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 21 days for up to 2 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

ARM B: Patients undergo observation.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 6 months if \< 4 or 5 years from study entry, and every 12 months if 5-10 or 6-10 years from study entry.

02

Conditions studied

  • ALK Gene Rearrangement
  • ALK Gene Translocation
  • ALK Positive
  • Stage IB Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma AJCC v7
  • Stage II Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer AJCC v7
  • Stage IIA Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma AJCC v7
  • Stage IIB Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma AJCC v7
  • Stage IIIA Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer AJCC v7
03

In context

Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung

7,620 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; 1,838 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 166 is above the median of 62 across 6,019 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung.

Browse Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung studies →

Lead sponsor

ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group is the lead sponsor of 122 studies on the registry; 16 are open to participants now.

Of its 13 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 13 (100%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

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

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients must have undergone complete surgical resection of their stage IB (>= 4 cm), II, or non-squamous IIIA NSCLC per American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 7th edition and have had negative margins; N3 disease is not allowed
  • Baseline chest computed tomography (CT) with or without contrast must be performed within 6 months (180 days) prior to randomization to ensure no evidence of disease; if clinically indicated additional imaging studies must be performed to rule out disease
  • (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1
  • Patients must be registered to the ALCHEMIST-SCREEN (ALLIANCE A151216) trial prior to randomization
  • Positive for translocation or inversion events involving the ALK gene locus (e.g. resulting in echinoderm microtubule associated protein like 4 [EML4]-ALK fusion) as determined by the Vysis Break Point fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay and defined by an increase in the distance between 5? and 3? ALK probes or the loss of the 5? probe; this must have been performed:

    • By a local Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certified laboratory: report must indicate the results as well as the CLIA number of the laboratory which performed the assay; tissue must be available for submission for central, retrospective confirmation of the ALK fusion status via ALCHEMIST-SCREEN (ALLIANCE A151216) OR
    • Patient registered to and the ALK fusion status performed centrally on the ALCHEMIST-SCREEN (ALLIANCE A151216)
  • Women must not be pregnant or breast-feeding
  • All females of must have a blood or urine pregnancy test within 72 hours prior to randomization to rule out pregnancy; a female of childbearing potential is any woman, regardless of sexual orientation or whether they have undergone tubal ligation, who meets the following criteria: 1) has not undergone a hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy; or 2) has not been naturally for at least 24 consecutive months (i.e., has had menses at any time in the preceding 24 consecutive months)
  • Women of childbearing potential and sexually active males must be strongly advised to practice abstinence or use an accepted and effective method of
  • Patients must NOT have uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, serious ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
  • No known interstitial fibrosis or interstitial lung disease
  • No prior treatment with crizotinib or another ALK inhibitor
  • No ongoing cardiac dysrhythmias of grade >= 2 National Cancer Institute (NCI) (CTCAE) version 4.0, uncontrolled atrial fibrillation (any grade), or (QTc) interval > 470 msec
  • No use of medications, herbals, or foods that are known potent cytochrome P450, subfamily 3A, polypeptide 4 () inhibitors or inducers, included but not limited to those outlined
  • Patients must be adequately recovered from surgery at the time of randomization
  • The minimum time requirement between date of surgery and randomization must be at least 4 weeks (28 days)
  • The maximum time requirement between surgery and randomization must be:

    • 3 months (90 days) if no chemotherapy was administered
    • 8 months (240 days) if adjuvant chemotherapy was administered
    • 10 months (300 days) if adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy were administered
  • Patients must have completed any prior adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation therapy 2 or more weeks (6 or more weeks for mitomycin and nitrosoureas) prior to randomization and be adequately recovered at the time of randomization

    • NOTE: Patients taking low dose methotrexate for non-malignant conditions and other cytotoxic agents for non-malignant conditions are allowed to continue treatment while on study
    • NOTE: Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation therapy for the resected lung cancer is not permitted
  • Serum (AST) and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) =\< 2.5 x (ULN)
  • Total serum =\< 1.5 x ULN
  • (ANC) >= 1500/mm\^3
  • >= 30,000/mm\^3
  • >= 8.0 g/dL
  • Serum creatinine =\< 2 x ULN
  • Prior to randomization patients with any non-hematologic toxicity from surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation must have recovered to grade =\< 1 with the exception of alopecia and the criteria outlined
  • Patients must not have any history of locally advanced or metastatic cancer requiring systemic therapy within 5 years from randomization, with the exception of in-situ carcinomas and non-melanoma skin cancer; patients must have no previous primary lung cancer diagnosed concurrently or within the past 2 years
  • Patients may not be receiving any other agents while on study
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(16)

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.

Metastases

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

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.

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.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

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.

CTCAE grade

The US National Cancer Institute’s scale of how severe an adverse event is — any unwanted medical event during a study, such as a symptom, an illness or an abnormal test result, whether or not a treatment caused it. Whether it did is judged separately.

1
Mild.
2
Moderate.
3
Severe.
4
Life-threatening.
5
Death due to the event.

“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.

QT and QTc

On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.

The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.

CYP3A (CYP3A4) inhibitors and inducers

CYP3A is a group of enzymes, mainly CYP3A4, in the liver and gut that break down many medicines. Some medicines, supplements and foods (grapefruit, St John’s wort) slow them down or speed them up, which changes how much of a study drug stays in the body.

Studies list them so they can be avoided or switched; bring a list of everything you take, including supplements.

Adjuvant and neoadjuvant

Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.

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.

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.

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.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
166 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Arm A (crizotinib)

    Patients receive crizotinib PO BID on days 1-21. Treatment repeats every 21 days for up to 2 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

    Drug: Crizotinib · Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis

  • Active comparator
    Arm B (observation)

    Patients undergo observation.

    Other: Clinical Observation · Other: Laboratory Biomarker Analysis

Interventions

  • OtherClinical Observation

    Undergo observation

  • Given PO

    Also known as: MET tyrosine kinase inhibitor PF-02341066, PF-02341066, PF-2341066, Xalkori

  • OtherLaboratory Biomarker Analysis

    Correlative studies

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Overall survival (OS)

    Distribution will be estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox proportional hazards models will be used to estimate the treatment hazard ratios. The primary comparison will use a logrank test stratified on the randomization stratification factors with a one-sided type I error rate of 5%. Other comparisons of groups will be made using the logrank test and Cox modeling. Estimate will be accompanied by the corresponding 90% confidence intervals.

    Time frame: The time from randomization to death from any cause, assessed up to 10 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Disease free survival (DFS)

    Distribution will be estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox proportional hazards models will be used to estimate the treatment hazard ratios. Estimate will be accompanied by the corresponding 90% confidence intervals.

    Time frame: The time from randomization to the earliest event defined as: disease recurrence confirmed by biopsy, any new lung cancer (even in the opposite lung) confirmed by biopsy, or death from any cause at any known point in time, assessed up to 10 years

  2. Toxicity rates, determined using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4.0

    Toxicity rates will be compared using Fisher?s exact tests with a one-sided type I error rate of 5%; multivariable logistic regression modeling will be used to adjust for the effect of any covariates that are associated with these categorical outcomes.

    Time frame: Up to 10 years

07

Study locations

1,618 sites

Showing the first 100 of 1,618 sites across 3 countries. Choose a country and city above to see the rest.

08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 19, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02201992
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 28, 2014
Start date
Mar 23, 2015
Primary completion
May 1, 2036 (estimated)
Completion
May 1, 2036 (estimated)
Last update
Dec 19, 2025

Study contacts

David Gerber
principal investigator · ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Dec 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Crizotinib

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