ClinicalTrials.gg
Active, not recruitingNCT03313206IMMUQUpdated Jan 20, 2026

Neoadjuvant Treatment Associated With Maintenance Therapy by Anti-PD1 Immunotherapy in Patients With Resectable Head and Neck Mucosal Melanoma

A Phase 2 interventional study of Pembrolizumab and Surgery in Head and Neck Mucosal Melanomas, sponsored by Gustave Roussy, Cancer Campus, Grand Paris. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-20.

Sponsored by Gustave Roussy, Cancer Campus, Grand Paris · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

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Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

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

Among 87 studies testing pembrolizumab in Melanoma — 20 open to participants now, 41 under way, 7 of them phase 3. pembrolizumab · Melanoma.

Planned enrollment
37th of 87
60 · median 53
Started
2018
with 7 others
Phase 2
49 of 87
12 open now
Primary completion
2027-01
later than 21 of 40 live
Registered
36th of 87
by date

Among the 87 studies testing pembrolizumab in Melanoma, this one is the 37th largest by planned enrollment, is one of 8 that started in 2018, is one of 49 in phase 2, reaches primary completion later than 21 of the 40 other live ones, and was the 36th registered.

Melanoma

3,370 studies on the registry are indexed under Melanoma; 578 are open to participants now.

Browse Melanoma studies →

Open to participants now

20 of the 87 studies testing pembrolizumab in Melanoma are open now, in 12 countries. Recruiting first, the newest first:

15 more — sign in →

By country, each count listing its studies:

All 20 open studies →

About pembrolizumab

pembrolizumab: first FDA approval 2014 (KEYTRUDA), first EMA approval 2015. What it is approved for, and how studies give it, is on its page →

Who these studies take

Of the 467 Melanoma studies recruiting now, 380 (81%) set no upper age limit and 49 (10%) stop at 75 or younger; 47 take children under 18; 29 take healthy volunteers.

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

The full table on the hub →

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Watch this landscapeDownload CSVNarrow it in search →With an account: a weekly mail of what changed among 87 studies testing pembrolizumab in Melanoma, or all of them as a file.
02

Study summary

The main objective will be to estimate the disease free survival (DFS) of patients with resectable head and neck mucosal melanomas treated by neo-adjuvant anti-PD1 (in combination or not with lenvatinib) followed by surgery, radiotherapy and maintenance immunotherapy in order to compare it to historical DFS results of this kind of patients treated by surgery and radiotherapy. Our primary end-point will be disease-free survival at 2 years

03

Conditions studied

  • Head and Neck Mucosal Melanomas

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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. Be willing and able to provide written /assent for the trial.
  2. Be >/= 18 years of age on day of signing informed consent.
  3. Present with a resectable head and neck mucosal melanoma.
  4. Be eligible for surgical treatment (without any ).
  5. Be eligible for radiotherapy.
  6. Have based on 1.1.
  7. Be willing to provide tissue from a newly obtained core or excisional of a tumor lesion. Newly-obtained is defined as a specimen obtained up to 6 weeks (42 days) prior to initiation of treatment on Day 1. Subjects for whom newly-obtained samples cannot be provided (e.g. inaccessible or subject safety concern) may submit an archived specimen only upon agreement from the Sponsor.
  8. Have a performance status of 0 or 1 on the Performance Scale.
  9. Demonstrate adequate organ function as defined in table 1, all screening labs should be performed within 10 days of treatment initiation.
  10. Female subject of should have a negative urine or serum pregnancy within 72 hours prior to receiving the first dose of study medication. If the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required.
  11. Female subjects of childbearing potential should be willing to use 2 methods of or be surgically sterile, or abstain from heterosexual activity for the course of the study through 120 days after the last dose of study medication. Subjects of childbearing potential are those who have not been surgically sterilized or have not been free from menses for > 1 year.
  12. Male subjects should agree to use an adequate method of contraception starting with the first dose of study therapy through 120 days after the last dose of study therapy.
  13. Patient affiliated to a social security system or beneficiary of the same

    For the cohort B, patients must met the following additional criteria :

  14. Not having any contraindication for lenvatinib treatment

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Is currently participating and receiving study therapy or has participated in a study of an agent and received study therapy or used an investigational device within 4 weeks of the first dose of treatment.
  2. Has a disease.
  3. Has a non resectable melanoma.
  4. Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or is receiving systemic therapy (except topical or inhaled steroids) or any other form of therapy within 2 weeks prior to the first dose of trial treatment.
  5. Has a known history of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis)
  6. to pembrolizumab or any of its .
  7. Has had a prior anti-cancer monoclonal antibody (mAb) within 4 weeks prior to D1 of study treatment or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier.
  8. Has had prior chemotherapy, targeted small molecule therapy, or radiation therapy within 4 weeks or 5 half-life times (whatever the shorter) prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to a previously administered agent.

    • Note: Subjects with ≤ Grade 2 neuropathy are an exception to this criterion and may qualify for the study.
    • Note: If subject received major surgery, they must have recovered adequately from the toxicity and/or complications from the intervention prior to starting therapy.
  9. Has a known additional that is progressing or requires active treatment. Exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin that has undergone potentially curative therapy or in situ cervical cancer.
  10. Has known active central nervous system (CNS) metastases and/or carcinomatous meningitis. Subjects with previously treated may participate provided they are stable (without evidence of progression by imaging for at least four weeks prior to the first dose of trial treatment and any neurologic symptoms have returned to baseline), have no evidence of new or enlarging brain metastases, and are not using steroids for at least 7 days prior to trial treatment. This exception does not include carcinomatous meningitis which is excluded regardless of clinical stability.
  11. Has active and/or immune mediated inflammatory disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e. with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs). Replacement therapy (eg., thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered a form of systemic treatment.
  12. Has known history of, or any evidence of active, non-infectious pneumonitis.
  13. Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy.
  14. Has a history or current evidence of any condition, therapy, or laboratory abnormality that might confound the results of the trial, interfere with the subject's participation for the full duration of the trial, or is not in the best interest of the subject to participate, in the opinion of the treating investigator.
  15. Has known psychiatric or substance abuse disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial.
  16. Is pregnant or breastfeeding, or expecting to conceive or father children within the projected duration of the trial, starting with the pre-screening or screening visit through 120 days after the last dose of trial treatment.
  17. Has received prior therapy with an , anti-PD-L1, or anti-PD L2 agent.
  18. Has a known history of (HIV) (HIV 1/2 antibodies).
  19. Has known active (e.g., HBsAg reactive) or (e.g., HCV RNA [qualitative] is detected).
  20. Has received a within 30 days of planned start of study therapy. Note: Seasonal influenza vaccines for injection are generally inactivated flu vaccines and are allowed; however intranasal influenza vaccines (e.g., Flu-Mist®) are live attenuated vaccines, and are not allowed.
  21. Major injuries and/or surgery within the past 4 weeks prior to start of study treatment with incomplete wound healing
  22. Has a prior history of organ transplant including stem cell transplant
  23. Has a below the institutional (or local laboratory) normal range, as determined by multigated acquisition (MUGA) or echocardiogram (ECHO)
  24. Has an uveal melanoma

    For the cohort B, patients must be excluded if one of the following additional criteria is met :

  25. Uncontrolled blood pressure (Systolic BP>140 mmHg or diastolic BP >90 mmHg) in spite of an optimized regimen of antihypertensive medication
  26. Electrolyte abnormalities that have not been corrected
  27. Significant cardiovascular impairment: history of congestive heart failure greater than (NYHA) Class II, unstable angina, myocardial infarction or stroke within 12 months of the first dose of study drug, or cardiac arrhythmia requiring medical treatment at Screening
  28. Bleeding or thrombotic disorders or subjects at risk for severe hemorrhage. The degree of tumor invasion/infiltration of major blood vessels (e.g. carotid artery) should be considered because of the potential risk of severe hemorrhage associated with tumor shrinkage/necrosis following lenvatinib therapy
  29. Subjects having > 1+ proteinuria on urine dipstick testing unless a 24-hour urine collection for quantitative assessment indicates that the urine protein is \<1 g/24 hours.
  30. Subjects who have not recovered adequately from any toxicity from other anti- cancer treatment regimens and/or complications from major surgery prior to starting therapy. Withhold lenvatinib for at least 1 week prior to elective surgery. Do not administer for at least 2 weeks following major surgery and until adequate wound healing.
  31. The participant has severe hypersensitivity (≥Grade 3) to lenvatinib and/or any of its excipients.
  32. Has presence of a gastrointestinal condition including malabsorption, gastrointestinal, anastomosis, or any other condition that might affect the absorption of lenvatinib.
  33. Has a pre-existing Grade ≥3 gastrointestinal or non-gastrointestinal fistula.
  34. Has hemoptysis or significant tumor bleeding within 3 weeks prior to the first dose of study drug.
  35. Prolongation of interval to >480 ms
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(28)

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.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

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.

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.

RECIST

The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.

“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Metastases

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

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.

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.

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.

Excipients

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

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.

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.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

PD-1, PD-L1 and checkpoint inhibitors

PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 are proteins that act as brakes on the immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab, block them so the immune system can attack a cancer.

PD-L1 can also be measured in a tumour sample. Some scores count stained tumour cells only (TPS); others also count certain immune cells (CPS). The study names the score and the minimum it uses.

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.

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.

Allogeneic and autologous transplant

Stem cell (bone marrow) transplants. Allogeneic uses cells from a donor; autologous uses your own cells, collected earlier and given back.

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.

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.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Cohort A

    The cohort A (Pembrolizumab only) will be opened in a first study step. Anti-PD1 antibody will be used (pembrolizumab, Merck®) intravenously at a dose of 200 mg every 3 weeks (4 injections maximum over 12 weeks), monotherapy

    Drug: Pembrolizumab · Procedure: Surgery · Radiation: IMRT

  • Experimental
    Cohort B

    Up to 26 evaluable patients will be treated in the cohort B (Pembrolizumab with Lenvatinib) if they do not have any contraindication for receiving lenvatinib treatment, otherwise they will be treated in the cohort A if slots are available. In the cohort B, the neo-adjuvant anti-PD1 immunotherapy will be combined with orally lenvatinib at a daily dose of 20 mg for 6 weeks started on the day of the first anti-PD1 dose.

    Drug: Pembrolizumab · Procedure: Surgery · Radiation: IMRT · Drug: Lenvatinib

Interventions

  • Neo-adjuvant therapy : * Anti-PD1 antibody will be used (pembrolizumab, Merck®) intravenously at a dose of 200 mg every 3 weeks. The patient will receive 4 injections maximum over 12 weeks. According to the investigator's opinion, the 4th injection might be cancelled in order to perform surgery from week 10 and not after week 13. * Tumor response will be assessed 2 weeks after the last injection both clinically and radiologically (by CT-scan and MRI). Maintenance therapy by anti-PD1 antibody (pembrolizumab, Merck®) will be then used intravenously at a dose of 200 mg every 3 weeks for a maximum period of one year, starting one month after the end of radiotherapy.

  • ProcedureSurgery

    Surgery will be performed (endoscopically if possible) 3 weeks after the last injection, at the earliest week 10 and at the latest at week 13 and will be completed by radiotherapy using IMRT technology according to the International and European Rhinologic Societies guidelines.

  • RadiationIMRT

    Surgery will be performed (endoscopically if possible) 3 weeks after the last injection, at the earliest week 10 and at the latest at week 13 and will be completed by radiotherapy using IMRT technology according to the International and European Rhinologic Societies guidelines.

  • up to 26 evaluable patients will be treated with pembrolizumab combined with orally lenvatinib at a daily dose of 20 mg for 6 weeks started on the day of the first anti-PD1 dose.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Disease Free Survival

    Time frame: Up to 2 years

07

Study locations

1 site
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Gorry C, McCullagh L, O'Donnell H, Barrett S, Schmitz S, Barry M, Curtin K, Beausang E, Barry R, Coyne I. Neoadjuvant treatment for stage III and IV cutaneous melanoma. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023 Jan 17;1(1):CD012974. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012974.pub2. PubMed 36648215 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

09

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

Started May 2018 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jan 2027, 104 months after the start.

Of 277 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Melanoma, half reached primary completion within 67 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 41 and three quarters within 94. This study's planned 104 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 383 studies reached it within 53 months; a quarter within 32 and three quarters within 88.

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

Registered
Oct 13, 2017
First posted
Oct 18, 2017
StartActual
May 28, 2018
Primary completionEst.
Jan 2027
CompletionEst.
Jan 2029
Last update
Jan 20, 2026
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 Jan 20, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03313206
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Oct 18, 2017
Start date
May 28, 2018
Primary completion
Jan 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Jan 20, 2026

Study contacts

Antoine MOYA PLANA, MD
study chair · Gustave Roussy, Cancer Campus, Grand Paris

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Jan 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Pembrolizumab · Lenvatinib

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