ClinicalTrials.gg
WithdrawnNCT03448666Updated Sep 23, 2024

ECT-Pembrolizumab in Patients With Unresectable Melanoma With Superficial or Superficial and Visceral Metastases

A Phase 2 interventional study of Pembrolizumab in Malignant Melanoma, sponsored by European Institute of Oncology. Withdrawn at 1 site in Italy. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-09-23.

Sponsored by European Institute of Oncology · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was withdrawn
no financial support

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Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
0
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-14

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

Enrollment
84th of 87
0 · median 53
Started
2021
with 8 others
Phase 2
49 of 87
12 open now
Registered
37th of 87
by date

Among the 87 studies testing pembrolizumab in Melanoma, this one is the 84th largest by enrollment, is one of 9 that started in 2021, is one of 49 in phase 2, and was the 37th registered.

Melanoma

3,372 studies on the registry are indexed under Melanoma; 580 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 468 Melanoma studies recruiting now, 381 (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

This is a Phase 2 multicenter, open label, non-randomized, interventional study enrolling 53 patients.The objectives and purposes of the clinical study described herein are to determine if concomitant Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and ECT treatments are safe and able to improve local and systemic response rates.ECT will be performed with the CLINIPORATOR and a single IV dose of Bleomycin

Read the detailed description

ECT induces immunogenic cell death of cancer cells with a more efficient antigen presentation of tumor-derived antigens by APCs to T-cells, particularly CD8+ antigen-specific T cells. Anti-PD-1 mAb reverts T-cell exhaustion induced by PD-1/PD-L1 and PD-L2 engagement on CD8+ T cells. Moreover, it may also be beneficial in the priming phase of the antitumor immune responses, inducing long-lived tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell effectors.

The main hypothesis is to establish if concomitant treatment of Pembrolizumab and ECT is able to lead to a 20% increase of the ORR using as a reference the proportion of success available in the literature for Pembrolizumab.

The investigators will perform a proteomic analysis of sera of treated patients, collected before and after treatments, with particular emphasis on cytokines and chemokines, to evaluate possible markers associated with a better clinical outcome.

03

Conditions studied

  • Malignant Melanoma

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • ECT
  • pembrolizumab
  • advanced melanoma
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. Have a confirmed advanced melanoma stages III b/c or IV, with at least the following superficial lesions: 5 lesions if diameter \< 1 cm or 3 lesions if diameter > 1 cm.
  2. Could have received previous therapy included CT, antiCTLA4 or antiBRAF/antiMEK treatment or be treatment naïve.
  3. Be willing and able to provide written /assent for the trial.
  4. Be >= 18 years of age on day of signing informed consent.
  5. Have based on 1.1.
  6. 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.
  7. Have a performance status ≤ 2 on the Performance Scale. (Ambulatory and capable of all self-care but unable to carry out any work activities. Up and about more than 50% of waking hours.)
  8. Demonstrate adequate organ function as defined in
  9. Have a baseline total body CT scan (brain MRI if are suspected)

    1. Patients with brain metastasis are allowed to participate if previously treated and brain lesion stability or inactivity is demonstrated. Patients with a history of brain metastasis are required to have a pre-baseline brain MRI at least 60 days (2 months) before the Screening/Baseline visit (Visit 1) for comparison to the Screening (Visit 1) MRI. Patients for whom MRI is will undergo head CT. Stable/inactive disease is determined by comparing the pre- baseline and screening/baseline MRI/CT results.
    2. Patients presenting with brain metastasis at Screening/Baseline who had no known previous brain involvement and who had no brain MRI/CT tests at least 60 days (2 months) before Screening/Baseline are considered screening failures and will be excluded from study enrollment.
  10. Have cutaneous or subcutaneous from melanoma that are accessible for the application of electric pulses using the single use, sterile CLINIPORATOR™ electrodes (5 lesions if diameter \<1 cm or 3 lesions if diameter >1 cm). For patients presenting with more than 7 lesions, the lesions with the largest diameters that fall within the \<10 to 30 mm size requirements will be considered "target" lesions for RECIST criteria and study purposes. The others will be recorded and monitored but will not considered as Target.
  11. Have lesions clearly requiring palliative treatment [e.g., symptomatic (bleeding, draining, painful), disfiguring or causing distress to the patient].
  12. A treatment-free period of three (3) weeks before enrolling in the study. NOTE: Patients receiving concomitant treatments for unrelated existing pathologies are eligible for enrollment.
  13. > 3 months.
  14. 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.
  15. Female subjects of childbearing potential (Section 5.7.2) must be willing to use an adequate method of as outlined in Section 5.7.2 - Contraception, for the course of the study through 120 days after the last dose of study medication. Note: Abstinence is acceptable if this is the usual lifestyle and preferred contraception for the subject.
  16. Male subjects of childbearing potential (Section 5.7.1) must agree to use an adequate method of contraception as outlined in Section 5.7.1- Contraception, starting with the first dose of study therapy through 120 days after the last dose of study therapy. Note: Abstinence is acceptable if this is the usual lifestyle and preferred contraception for the subject.

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 or has any ongoing treatment for melanoma or with any non-study anticancer therapy or agent.
  2. Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or is receiving systemic therapy or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment.
  3. Has a known history of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis)
  4. to pembrolizumab or any of its or known allergies to Bleomycin.
  5. Has received a cumulative lifetime dose of Bleomycin exceeding 250 mg/m2
  6. Has had a prior anti-cancer monoclonal antibody (mAb) within 4 weeks prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier.
  7. Has had prior chemotherapy, targeted small molecule therapy, or radiation therapy within 2 weeks 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.
  8. Patient has a history of a (other than the disease under treatment in the study) within 5 years prior to first study drug administration. This should exclude adequately treated Stage 1 or Stage 2 basal/squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, carcinoma in situ of the cervix or breast, or other in situ cancers. Shorter intervals can be considered after discussion with Merck.
  9. Has known active central nervous system (CNS) 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 14 days prior to trial treatment. This exception does not include carcinomatous meningitis which is excluded regardless of clinical stability.
  10. Has epilepsy.
  11. Has active 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 a history of (no-infectious) pneumonitis that require steroids or current 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 primary ocular melanoma
  21. Non-cutaneous/subcutaneous symptomatic or rapidly progressive metastases
  22. Cardiac arrhythmias [e.g., significant ventricular arrhythmia such as persistent ventricular tachycardia and/or ventricular fibrillation; severe conduction disorders as atrioventricular block 2 and 3, sinoatrial block]
  23. 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.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(24)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Metastases

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

Life expectancy

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

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.

Immunosuppression

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

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

Corticosteroids (steroids)

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

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

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.

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.

05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    pembrolizumab and elettrochemiotherapy

    drug: Pembrolizumab 200 mg flat dose every three weeks procedure: elettrochemiotherapy once after first pembrolizumab dose

    Combination Product: Pembrolizumab

Interventions

  • Combination productPembrolizumab

    Electrochemotherapy will be performed with the CLINIPORATOR™ after the first treatment of Pembrolizumab

    Also known as: Electrochemotherapy

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Overall Response rate, as Determined by RECIST v1.1

    CT scan

    Time frame: Baseline up to disease progression or death due to any cause, whichever occurs first (up to approximately 60 months)

07

Study locations

1 site
  • IEO Istituto Europeo di Oncologia
    Milan, 20141, Italy
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Mar 2021 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2023, 33 months after the start.

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

Registered
Nov 24, 2017
First posted
Feb 28, 2018
StartActual
Mar 1, 2021
Primary completionEst.
Dec 1, 2023
CompletionEst.
Dec 1, 2023
Last update
Sep 23, 2024
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 Sep 23, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03448666
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 28, 2018
Start date
Mar 1, 2021
Primary completion
Dec 1, 2023 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 1, 2023 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 23, 2024

Study contacts

Pier Fr Ferrucci, MD
principal investigator · European Institute of Oncology

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 withdrawn, as verified in Jun 2023. 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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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 drug tested here: Pembrolizumab

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