ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03297593Updated Jun 6, 2025

Nivolumab in Combination With Ipilimumab in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

A Phase 2 interventional study of nivolumab and ipilimumab in Renal Cell Carcinoma, sponsored by Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research. Completed at 14 sites in Switzerland. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-06-06.

Sponsored by Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
74
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors that target PD-1 and CTLA-4 have shown activity in mRCC. However, the optimal schedule of the combination therapy has yet to be defined.

The objective of the trial is to determine the efficacy of combination immunotherapy of nivolumab and ipilimumab in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

The expansion phase shall address the role of ipilimumab in case of clinically insignificant progression.

Read the detailed description

Despite the encouraging results of recent trials, only a minority of patients shows significant response to single agent immunotherapy with nivolumab (Overall response rate (ORR) around 20%). Therefore, further investigations are urgently needed to improve the prognosis of patients with mRCC. Recent analyses of phase I trials in mRCC and also in non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients as well as more advanced studies in melanoma patients have provided evidence that combination of immunotherapies can improve response rates and response duration.

Cancer immunotherapy rests on the premise that tumors can be recognized as foreign rather than as self and can be effectively attacked by an activated immune system. An effective immune response in this setting is thought to rely on immune surveillance of tumor antigens expressed on cancer cells that ultimately results in an adaptive immune response and cancer cell death. Meanwhile, tumor progression may depend upon acquisition of traits that allow cancer cells to evade immunosurveillance and escape effective innate and adaptive immune responses. Current immunotherapy efforts attempt to break the apparent tolerance of the immune system to tumor cells and antigens by either introducing cancer antigens by therapeutic vaccination or by modulating regulatory checkpoints of the immune system.

Dysfunctional T cells in cancer show an upregulation of inhibitory receptors (T cell exhaustion). Combined blockade of inhibitory receptors including CTLA-4 and PD-1 are considered to act synergistically. Indeed, early trials in mRCC showed improved response rates and combinations have also demonstrated to be prolonging progression-free survival in melanoma. While CTLA-4 is mainly involved in transmitting negative signals in T cells during priming in the lymph node, PD-1 is thought to mainly inhibit T cell cytotoxicity within the tumor by engagement of ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2, which are upregulated by tumor cells and inflammatory cells within the tumor microenvironment as shield against the immune attack. It is therefore reasonable to combine PD-1 blockade with CTLA-4 blockade and this has been tested with an intriguing doubling of ORR in a phase I trial in patients with mRCC. An important aspect of any combination therapy is the question of additional/ excessive toxicity. In that trial the combination of nivolumab 3mg/kg/q3w (cont.) and ipilimumab 1mg/kg/q3w (4 times) proved to be safe, efficacious and feasible (much better safety profile in patients with mRCC compared to patients in melanoma trials). 78% of patients had any AE, but only 28% a grade 3-4 AE event. While diarrhea was quite common, only 4.8% had grade 3-4 diarrhea. Other treatment related immune-mediated AEs, especially endocrinopathy, pneumonitis, skin disorders were recorded at lower grades than 3. No deaths were reported for this combination. The overall response rate was 43% with durable responses of 78% in patients that had an initial response (durable responses).

Moreover, recent variations of dosing schedules and strengths of the nivolumab-ipilimumab combinations have shown improvement of toxicity rates with no loss of efficacy. For example, ipilimumab every 6 weeks at 1mg/kg was shown to be well tolerated in patients with non-small cell lung cancer when combined with nivolumab.

Nivolumab has proven efficacy and a favorable toxicity profile as a 2nd line therapy in mRCC. It is therefore destined to become the standard therapy after a first line TKI therapy. However, only a minority of patients shows clear responses leaving plenty of room for improvement. The addition of a further agent including blockade of CTLA-4 that acts synergistically could improve the response rate and also extend the progression-free and overall survival in patients with mRCC.

The addition of ipilimumab to nivolumab in order to increase response rates and induce more often durable remissions in patients is a reasonable next step and is currently tested in several randomized trials. However, at this point it is unclear which subgroup benefits most from the combination of CTLA-4 and PD-1 blockade and the optimal regimen/schedule remains unknown. To this end, this trial will test a combination of ipilimumab with nivolumab at an alternate schedule and a subsequent adaptation of the treatment regimen to the individual response with the aim to increase efficacy while reducing toxicity in mRCC patients. Ipilimumab is often used only in the first weeks of antineoplastic treatment for initial immune priming, allowing the presumption that it could be stopped after an initial priming phase. A phase I dose finding study is not needed, as experience with this dose and even higher doses have been reported and data are on file at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). In addition, sequential biopsies and biomarker studies shall identify patients that benefit the most of a combination immunotherapy. In this trial, it was decided to have a nivolumab lead-in phase to be able to determine whether any acute side effect is nivolumab or ipilimumab related.

02

Conditions studied

  • Renal Cell Carcinoma

Keywords

  • renal cell carcinoma
  • Nivolumab
  • Ipilimumab
  • metastatic renal cell carcinoma
  • immunotherapy
  • Opdivo
  • Yervoy
03

In context

Carcinoma, Renal Cell

2,037 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Renal Cell; 395 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 74 is above the median of 43 across 1,564 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma, Renal Cell.

Browse Carcinoma, Renal Cell studies →

Lead sponsor

Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research is the lead sponsor of 106 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

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

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

  • Written according to Swiss law and ICH/GCP regulations before registration and prior to any trial specific procedures
  • or cytologically confirmed, locally advanced and/or clear cell RCC not amenable to surgery or definitive radiotherapy, and requiring systemic therapy
  • Patient able and willing to provide serial and blood drawings (initial, at 14 weeks (except for patient in the expansion cohort), and at progression).
  • In case of patients, the previous therapy must be stopped at least 2 weeks prior to registration
  • Age ≥ 18 years
  • of 0-1
  • Bone marrow function: ≥ 1.5 x 109/L, count ≥ 100 x 109/L
  • Hepatic function: total ≤ 1.5 x (except for patients with Gilbert's disease ≤ 3.0 x ULN), , ALT and AP ≤ 2.5 x ULN (≤ 5 x ULN if significant hepatic metastasis is suspected to be the cause for enzyme elevation)
  • Renal function: > 20 mL/min/1.732
  • Cardiac function: ≤ 2. In case of cardiac insufficiency NYHA 1 or 2, (LVEF) ≥ 35% as determined by echocardiography (ECHO) or multigated acquisition (MUGA) scan
  • Women with are using effective are not pregnant or lactating and agree not to become pregnant during trial treatment and during 5 months thereafter. A negative pregnancy test before inclusion into the trial is required for all women with child-bearing potential.
  • Men agree not to father a child during trial treatment and during 5 months thereafter

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Uncontrolled . Patients with asymptomatic CNS metastases (at least 2 weeks after radiotherapy or surgery and with prednisone equivalent of 10 mg or lower) are eligible
  • History of hematologic or primary solid tumor , unless in remission for at least 3 years from registration with the exception of pT1-2 prostate cancer Gleason score \< 6, adequately treated cervical carcinoma in situ, or localized non-melanoma skin cancer.
  • More than one for mRCC
  • Prior immunotherapy.
  • Concurrent or recent (within 30 days of registration) treatment with any other experimental drug
  • Concomitant use of other anti-cancer drugs or radiotherapy except for local pain control (radiotherapy of target lesion not allowed)
  • medications (such as but not limited to: methotrexate, azathioprine, and TNF-α blockers) within 30 days before registration

Exception:

  • systemic corticosteroids at doses not exceeding 10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent
  • immunosuppressive medications for patients with contrast allergies
  • inhaled and intranasal corticosteroids
  • within 30 days prior to registration and for 30 days after last dose of any of the trial drugs. Inactivated viruses, such as those in the influenza vaccine, are permitted
  • History of or active auto-immune disease with the exception of diabetes mellitus type II
  • (HIV) infection or active chronic or Virus infection or any uncontrolled active systemic infection requiring intravenous (iv) antimicrobial treatment
  • Known to trial drug(s) or to any component of the trial drug(s)
  • Any other serious underlying medical, psychiatric, psychological, familial or geographical condition, which in the judgment of the investigator may interfere with the planned staging, treatment and follow-up, affect patient compliance or place the patient at high risk from treatment-related complications.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(26)

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.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

Measurable disease

The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.

The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.

Line of therapy

A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.

“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.

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.

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.

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.

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.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction)

The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.

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.

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.

Brain metastases

Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).

Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.

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.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

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.

Live vaccines

Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.

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 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.

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.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
74 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    nivolumab and ipilimumab

    Patients start treatment with nivolumab (240 mg every 2 weeks during the first 20 weeks, 480 mg every 4 weeks thereafter). After 2 weeks, ipilimumab (1mg/kg every 6 weeks) will be introduced. As soon as a radiographic complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) is observed, ipilimumab has to be stopped and only the single-agent treatment with nivolumab is continued. Once ipilumimab has been stopped because of a response, it will not be re-started later on.

    Drug: nivolumab · Drug: ipilimumab

Interventions

  • 240 mg every 2 weeks during the first 20 weeks, 480 mg every 4 weeks thereafter

    Also known as: Opdivo

  • After 2 weeks 1mg/kg every 6 weeks

    Also known as: Yervoy

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Overall response rate (ORR)

    ORR is defined as proportion of patients achieving partial response (PR) or complete response (CR) according to RECIST v1.1 at any time between registration and documented disease progression\*, death, or subsequent therapy, whichever occurs first. \*PD before the 3rd administration of ipilimumab not leading to treatment discontinuation does not count as progression for this endpoint. Furthermore, the additional tumor assessment at 20 weeks for patients with PD n.c.s. before week 20 will not be taken into consideration for calculation of this endpoint.

    Time frame: at 2 years.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Progression-free survival (PFS)

    PFS is defined as the time from registration until progression according to RECIST v1.1 or death from any cause, whichever occurs first. PD before the 3rd administration of ipilimumab not leading to treatment discontinuation does not count as progression for this endpoint. Furthermore, the additional tumor assessment at 20 weeks for patients with PD n.c.s. before week 20 will not be taken into consideration for calculation of this endpoint. Patients without event at the time of analysis and patients starting a new anticancer therapy in the absence of an event will be censored at the date of the last tumor assessment showing non-progression (before the start of the new therapy, if any).

    Time frame: at weeks 8, 14, 20, 26, and then every 12 weeks up to 2 years.

  2. Duration of response (DOR)

    DOR is defined as time from the date when a patient first meets the criteria for PR or CR according to RECIST v1.1, until documented progression, relapse or death due to disease progression, whichever occurs first. PD before the 3rd administration of ipilimumab not leading to treatment discontinuation does not count as progression for this endpoint. Furthermore, the additional tumor assessment at 20 weeks for patients with PD n.c.s. before week 20 will not be taken into consideration for calculation of this endpoint. Patients without event at the time of analysis and patients starting a new anticancer therapy in the absence of an event will be censored at the date of the last tumor assessment showing non-progression before the start of the new therapy (if any). DOR will only be analyzed in the subgroup of patients achieving PR or CR during trial treatment.

    Time frame: at weeks 8, 14, 20, 26, and then every 12 weeks up to 2 years.

  3. Time to treatment failure (TTF)

    TTF defined as time from registration to treatment discontinuation due to any reason. Patients still on treatment at the time of analysis will be censored at the date of last treatment administration. Furthermore, the additional tumor assessment at 20 weeks for patients with PD n.c.s. before week 20 will not be taken into consideration for calculation of this endpoint.

    Time frame: at weeks 8, 14, 20, 26, and then every 12 weeks up to 2 years.

  4. Overall survival (OS)

    OS is defined as the time from registration until death from any cause. Patients without event at the time of analysis will be censored at the date they were last known to be alive.

    Time frame: At weeks 8. 14, 20, 26, then every 12 weeks until 2 years.

  5. Adverse events (AEs)

    AEs are assessed according to NCI CTCAE v4.03.

    Time frame: at weeks 8, 14, 20, 26, then every 12 weeks, until 100 days after last dose of treatment.

07

Study locations

14 sites
  • Kantonsspital Aarau
    Aarau, 5001, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital Baden
    Baden, 5404, Switzerland
  • Universitätsspital Basel
    Basel, 4031, Switzerland
  • Inselspital Bern
    Bern, 3030, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital Baselland Bruderholz
    Bruderholz, 4101, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital Graubünden
    Chur, 7000, Switzerland
  • Spital Thurgau
    Frauenfeld, 8500, Switzerland
  • HFR - Hôpital cantonal
    Fribourg, 1708, Switzerland
  • Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève
    Genève, 1221, Switzerland
  • Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois - CHUV
    Lausanne, 1011, Switzerland
  • Luzerner Kantonsspital
    Luzern, 6000, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital St. Gallen
    St. Gallen, 9007, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital Winterthur
    Winterthur, 8401, Switzerland
  • UniversitätsSpital Zürich
    Zürich, 8091, Switzerland
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Dec 2017 to primary completion in Jul 2019, 18 months.

Of 183 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Carcinoma, Renal Cell, half reached primary completion within 67 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 41 and three quarters within 98. This study's 18 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 230 studies reached it within 58 months; a quarter within 33 and three quarters within 94.

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

Registered
Sep 14, 2017
First posted
Sep 29, 2017
StartActual
Dec 13, 2017
Primary completionActual
Jul 1, 2019
CompletionActual
Apr 30, 2025
Last update
Jun 6, 2025
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 Jun 6, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03297593
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Sep 29, 2017
Start date
Dec 13, 2017
Primary completion
Jul 1, 2019
Completion
Apr 30, 2025
Last update
Jun 6, 2025

Study contacts

Frank Stenner, Prof
study chair · Universitätsspital Basel
Heinz Läubli, MD
study chair · Universitätsspital Basel

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Nivolumab · Ipilimumab

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