A Phase 2 interventional study of Radiation and Cisplatin in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, sponsored by Canadian Cancer Trials Group. Active, not recruiting at 26 sites in 4 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-03-24.
Sponsored by Canadian Cancer Trials Group · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
Help build ClinicalTrials.gg — short surveys, remote interviews or testing, in your language. Take part →
Among 20 studies testing durvalumab in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck — none open to participants now, 3 under way, none of them phase 3. durvalumab · Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck.
Among the 20 studies testing durvalumab in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, this one is the 4th largest by enrollment, is one of 7 that started in 2018, is one of 7 in phase 2, and was the 12th registered.
2,019 studies on the registry are indexed under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck; 573 are open to participants now.
Browse Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck studies →None of the 20 studies testing durvalumab in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck is open now. The open studies under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, anywhere →
durvalumab: first FDA approval 2017 (IMFINZI), first EMA approval 2018. What it is approved for, and how studies give it, is on its page →
Of the 435 Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck studies recruiting now, 311 (71%) set no upper age limit and 87 (20%) stop at 75 or younger; 5 take children under 18; 13 take healthy volunteers.
This study: 18 Years and older · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.
The full table on the hub →This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
On this site’s reading of the record, durvalumab is the treatment under test here. Read study by study →
20 studies; the count open now beside each. This study's row is marked.
A study in two phases is counted once above. Listed by phase, each with its combined phases: Phase 1 10 · Phase 2 11 · Phase 3 3
First in 2013; this study’s year is marked. 7 started in 2018.
By drug class, each counting the studies that test any of its medicines:
This study's enrollment of 129 is above the median of 48 across 1,653 interventional studies indexed under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck.
Median enrollment 40 across the 20 interventional studies. Of the 16 that completed or were terminated, 4 (25%) have results posted.
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
5 of 20 have an industry lead sponsor. The 10 most frequent:
Canadian Cancer Trials Group is the lead sponsor of 93 studies on the registry; 29 are open to participants now.
Of its 8 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 7 (88%) have results posted.
Canadian Cancer Trials Group has 2 studies filed under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck — fewer than ten, so there is no comparison to draw.
None of the studies under way reaches primary completion within a year.
Among the 20 studies testing durvalumab in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, from their registry updates:
This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.
Sometimes, cancer patients receive an initial treatment, followed by additional treatment to lower the chance of cancer coming back. The standard or usual treatment for this type of disease is initially having radiation therapy at the same time as chemotherapy (with a drug called cisplatin), with no additional therapy afterwards
This study is looking at whether a type of drug called durvalumab can be used with radiation during the initial treatment, (instead of cisplatin) and also afterwards as additional therapy. Durvalumab is an immunotherapy drug . It has been tested in many different types of cancers. Durvalumab works by allowing the immune system to detect the cancer and reactivate the immune response. This may help to slow down the growth of cancer or may cause cancer cells to die. Durvalumab has been shown to shrink tumours in animals. It has been studied in more than 5000 people, approved for use in other cancers and seems promising.
This clinical trial will also test another type of immunotherapy drug called tremelimumab, which would also be given as additional treatment. Tremelimumab works in a different way to durvalumab to enhance the immune system reaction against cancer cells and may improve the effect of durvalumab. Tremelimumab may also help slow the growth of the cancer cells or may cause cancer cells to die. It has been shown to shrink tumours in animals. Tremelimumab has been studied in over 1200 people, approved for use in other cancers and seems promising.
As of February 2019, tremelimumab will no longer be tested with new participants joining the study.
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.
and/or cytologically confirmed (primary lesion or regional lymph nodes) squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx (OSCC) which is locoregionally advanced, intermediate risk and non- (M0) as defined by the following (UICC/AJCC 8th Edition staging)
The following radiological investigations must be done within 8 weeks of randomization:
Exclusion Criteria:
Patients with active or uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to:
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.
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.
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.
A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Excipients
The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ECG (electrocardiogram)
A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
All patients will receive standard fractionation radiation therapy (RT) scheme: 70 Gy in 35 fractions over 7 weeks (i.e. 2 Gy per fraction) Cisplatin IV 100 mg/m2 days 1, 22, 43 concurrently with RT
Radiation: Radiation · Drug: Cisplatin
All patients will receive standard fractionation radiation therapy (RT) scheme: 70 Gy in 35 fractions over 7 weeks (i.e. 2 Gy per fraction) Concurrent Phase: Durvalumab IV 1500 mg, days -7 and 22 (the second dose is given concurrently with RT). Adjuvant Phase (to start 4 weeks after completion of concurrent phase): Durvalumab IV 1500 mg q4 weekly for 6 doses.
Radiation: Radiation · Drug: Durvalumab
ARM CLOSED TO ACCRUAL WITH AMENDMENT #1
Radiation: Radiation · Drug: Durvalumab · Drug: Tremelimumab
70 Gy in 35 fractions over 7 weeks (i.e. 2 Gy per fraction)
100 mg/m2 days 1, 22, 43 concurrently with RT
Given in concurrent and adjuvant phase
ARM CLOSED TO ACCRUAL - 2019
3 year event-free survival
Event-free survival (EFS), is defined as the time from randomization to the time when a failure event is observed. Failure is define by Local-regional progression or recurrence, Distant metastasis, Non-protocol RT, chemotherapy, Surgery or death.
Time frame: 3 years
Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Head and Neck Version (FACT-HN) score.
The FACT-H\&N is a multidimensional, self-report QoL instrument specifically designed for use with head and neck cancer patients (1-3). It consists of 27 core items which assess patient function in four domains: Physical, Social/Family, Emotional, and Functional well-being, which is further supplemented by 12 site specific items to assess for head and neck related symptoms. Each item is rated on a 0 to 4 Likert type scale, and then combined to produce subscale scores for each domain, as well as an global QoL score. Higher scores represent better QoL.
Time frame: 6 years
Local regional failure
Locoregional control defined as time from randomization to the time of first documented local (primary site) or regional (lymph node) recurrence
Time frame: 6 years
Distant metastasis-free survival
Distant metastasis-free survival defined as time from randomization to the time of first documented distant metastasis or death from any cause
Time frame: 6 years
Overall survival
Overall Survival defined as time from randomization to the time of death from any cause
Time frame: 6 years
Cost-effectiveness of immunotherapy-based treatment arm vs standard of RT and cisplatin in patients with intermediate risk LA-OSC using the EQ-5D-5L
Time frame: 6 years
Number and severity of adverse events
Time frame: 6 years
Cost-utility will be used to abstract indirect costs at the end of RT and at 6 and 12 months post RT
Time frame: 6 & 12 months
Lost productivity questionnaire will be used to abstract indirect costs at the end of RT and at 6 and 12 months post RT
Time frame: 6 & 12 months
Incidence of second cancer
Time frame: 6 years
PRO-CTCAE baseline, last week of treatment, 3 months, 6 months and 12, 24 and 36 months from the end of RT
Time frame: 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months
Dysphagia: PSS-HN swallowing subscale at 36 months from the end of RT
Time frame: 36 months
Dysphagia: using MDADI Global at 36 months from the end of RT
Time frame: 36 months
Number and severity of radiation-related late toxicity at 3 months, 6 months and 1 year from the end of RT
Time frame: 3 months, 6 months & 1 year
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Ran from May 2018 to primary completion in Jan 2026, 91 months.
Of 298 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, half reached primary completion within 56 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 37 and three quarters within 85. This study's 91 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 366 studies reached it within 53 months; a quarter within 35 and three quarters within 82.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Mar 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions 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.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Studies of the drugs tested here: Durvalumab · Tremelimumab
Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck →
Canadian Cancer Trials Group