ClinicalTrials.gg
WithdrawnNCT03767439Updated Dec 18, 2019

Nivolumab With Vismodegib in Patients With Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome

A Phase 2 interventional study of Vismodegib and Nivolumab in Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome, sponsored by Columbia University. Withdrawn. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-12-18.

Sponsored by Columbia University · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was withdrawn
Loss of funding

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

Study summary

This is a single-arm, phase II study to assess the efficacy of combined SMO and PD-1 inhibition with Vismodegib (SMO inhibitor) and Nivolumab (anti-PD-1 antibody) in BCNS patients (target enrollment of 22 patients), with a primary endpoint of 18-month disease control rate. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that Nivolumab and Vismodegib will improve the percentage of BCNS patients who achieve disease control (defined as total tumor burden \<50% of baseline) at 18 months from 50% to 80%. Baseline and on-treatment biopsies will be obtained to characterize the immune effects of combined SMO and PD-1 inhibition.

Read the detailed description

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is by far the most common form of human malignancy, affecting more than 3.5 million Americans each year. Aberrant activation of the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway, typically through loss of the receptor Patched (PTCH) or oncogenic activation of Smoothened (SMO), has been identified as the primary driver of BCC growth and development. In particular, up to 1 in 57,000 individuals in the US are affected by a rare, autosomal dominant disorder characterized by mutations in protein patched homolog 1 (PTCH1) known as basal cell nevus syndrome (BCNS). These patients can develop dozens to hundreds of BCCs at any one time (1-5). Surgical removal of the entire tumor burden is not feasible.

Hh-targeted therapies employing inhibitors of SMO (i.e., Vismodegib, Sonidegib) have shown remarkable efficacy in reducing tumor burden in BCC patients. However, the sustained clinical utility of these agents has been hampered by the rapid development of clinical resistance, significant tumor recurrence, and toxicity. Treatment strategies directed at finding additional molecular or immunological targets may enhance the possibility of sustained remission and/or cure of these tumors. Emerging data from our research group and others suggest the therapeutic efficacy of SMO inhibition may be dependent on immunological mechanisms. Hh inhibition appears to increase T cell recruitment and activation as well as upregulate major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I expression on tumor cells. These data, together with case reports demonstrating the efficacy of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibition in Hh inhibitor-naïve and resistant BCCs, support a role for anti-tumor immunity in BCC and underscore the potential enhanced therapeutic efficacy of combined SMO and immunological checkpoint inhibition.

02

Conditions studied

  • Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome

Keywords

  • Nivolumab
  • Vismodegib
  • Basal Cell
  • Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome (BCNS)
03

In context

Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome

35 studies on the registry are indexed under Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome; 4 are open to participants now.

Browse Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome studies →

Lead sponsor

Columbia University is the lead sponsor of 1,136 studies on the registry; 195 are open to participants now.

Of its 180 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 148 (82%) have results posted.

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

04

Who can participate

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

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

  • 10 or more surgically eligible BCCs (SEBS) within the prior 2 years
  • Age > 16 years
  • Performance Score (KPS) > 60%, (ECOG) \< 2
  • Prior SMO inhibitor therapy is permitted, but patients must have developed new and/or progressive lesions on or after therapy
  • Adequate organ function
  • All toxicities from prior systemic therapy must be \< Grade 1
  • Subjects must agree to undergo four serial tumor (may be of different tumors) at baseline, after a two week run-in of Vismodegib, between 4-6 weeks of concurrent Nivolumab and Vismodegib, and at the time of disease recurrence or progression.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Prior therapy with an immunological
  2. Prior SMO inhibitor therapy is permitted, but patients must have developed new and/or progressive lesions on or after therapy
  3. Routine use of topical (applied to >5% of skin) or systemic therapies that might interfere with evaluation of the study medication in the prior 4 weeks

    1. Topical
    2. Systemic or topical retinoids e.g., etretinate, isotretinoin, tazarotene, tretinoin, adapalene
    3. Topical alpha-hydroxy acids e.g., glycolic acid, lactic acid
    4. Systemic or topical 5-fluorouracil or imiquimod to skin above the knees
  4. Patients who have not recovered from adverse events (> Grade 1) due to prior treatments
  5. Treatment with any other agents
  6. Recent major surgery within 4 weeks prior to starting study treatment. Minor surgeries such as placement of vascular access are not exclusionary.
  7. Known history of to any of the ingredients in the study medication formulations
  8. Requirement for corticosteroids at doses exceeding 10 mg prednisone daily or equivalent prior to first dose of Nivolumab
  9. Ongoing or recent (within 5 years) evidence of significant disease at baseline or associated with prior therapy requiring treatment with systemic immunosuppressive treatments with the exception of:

    1. Viligo
    2. Childhood asthma that has resolved
    3. Residual endocrinopathies requiring replacement therapy
    4. Psoriasis that does not require systemic treatment
  10. History of solid organ transplant
  11. Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
  12. Uncontrolled hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, or hypokalemia
  13. positive patients on combination antiretroviral therapy
  14. nausea and vomiting, active gastrointestinal disease e.g. inflammatory bowel disease, or significant bowel resection that would preclude adequate absorption
  15. Have evidence of any other significant skin condition, clinical disorder, physical examination finding, or laboratory finding that, as judged by the investigator, makes it undesirable for the patient to participate in the study
  16. Active treatment for a second
  17. Pregnant women are excluded from this study because nivolumab, ipilimumab and vismodegib may be teratogenic or have abortifacient effects. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with nivolumab, ipilimumab or vismodegib, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is receiving study treatment.
  18. Male patients unwilling or unable to comply with pregnancy prevention measures
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(13)

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.

Karnofsky performance status (KPS)

A 0–100 scale of how well someone can carry out everyday activities. 100 is no complaints and no signs of illness; 70 is able to look after yourself but not to work or keep up normal activity; 50 is needing considerable help and frequent medical care.

Studies often ask for 60 or 70 and above. Your doctor gives the score.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Relapsed and refractory

Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.

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.

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
    Nivolumab, Vismodegib, Ipilimumab

    Patients will receive a two week run-in of Vismodegib 150 mg PO daily followed by concurrent Nivolumab 480 mg IV every 4 weeks and Vismodegib 150 mg PO daily. In an exploratory fashion, patients will have the option to receive combination Ipilimumab 1 mg/kg IV every 6 weeks and Nivolumab 360 mg IV every 3 weeks at the time of disease progression.

    Drug: Vismodegib · Drug: Nivolumab · Drug: Ipilimumab

Interventions

  • 150 mg PO daily

    Also known as: ERIVEDGE

  • 480 mg IV every 4 weeks

    Also known as: OPDIVO

  • 1 mg/kg IV every 6 weeks

    Also known as: YERVOY

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Disease control rate

    Defined as the percentage of patients achieving a total tumor burden \<50% of baseline tumor burden

    Time frame: 18 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Total Number of Adverse Reactions

    Testing safety and toxicity assessed using CTCAE v5.0 criteria

    Time frame: 18 months

  2. Disease Control Rate (DCR)

    DCR is defined as the percentage of subjects who have achieved complete response (CR), partial response (PR), or stable disease (SD) based on assessments per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1.

    Time frame: 18 months

  3. Duration of Response (DOR)

    For subjects who demonstrate CR or PR, based on assessments per RECIST 1.1, DOR is defined as the time from first documented evidence of CR or PR until disease progression or death due to any cause, whichever occurs first.

    Time frame: 18 months

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Start is estimated for Jul 2019; primary completion for Dec 2019, 5 months later.

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

Registered
Dec 5, 2018
First posted
Dec 6, 2018
StartEst.
Jul 2019
Primary completionEst.
Dec 2019
CompletionEst.
Feb 2020
Last update
Dec 18, 2019
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 Dec 18, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03767439
Responsible party
Richard D. Carvajal (Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University Medical, Columbia University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Dec 6, 2018
Start date
Jul 2019 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 2019 (estimated)
Completion
Feb 2020 (estimated)
Last update
Dec 18, 2019

Study contacts

Richard Carvajal, MD.
principal investigator · Columbia University

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is withdrawn, as verified in Dec 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drugs tested here: HhAntag691 · Nivolumab

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