ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04246671Updated Mar 3, 2025

TAEK-VAC-HerBy Vaccine for Brachyury and HER2 Expressing Cancer

A Phase 1 interventional study of TAEK-VAC-HerBy in Chordoma and HER2-positive Breast Cancer, sponsored by Bavarian Nordic. Completed at 9 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-03-03.

Sponsored by Bavarian Nordic · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was Feb 2024, 2 years 8 months ago, and no results have been posted to the registry.
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
37
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

A Phase 1 open label trial of intravenous administration of TAEK-VAC-HerBy vaccine in patients with advanced brachyury and/or HER2- expressing cancer. The study will be completed in 2 stages. In Stage 1 patients will be enrolled and treated according to a 3+3 dose escalation scheme. Up to 4 dose levels will be explored to determine the recommended dose of TAEK-VAC-HerBy for Stage 2 of the trial. Stage 2 will enroll either chordoma patients for treatment with TAEK-VAC-HerBy alone, or HER2- positive breast cancer patients for combination treatment of TAEK-VAC-HerBy vaccine and therapeutic HER2 antibodies (trastuzumab). Patients in both stages will receive TAEK-VAC-HerBy intravenously, every three weeks, three administrations in total.

02

Conditions studied

  • Chordoma
  • HER2-positive Breast Cancer

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Keywords

  • Brachyury
  • HER2-expessing cancer
03

In context

Chordoma

68 studies on the registry are indexed under Chordoma; 15 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 37 is close to the median of 38 across 50 interventional studies indexed under Chordoma.

Browse Chordoma studies →

Lead sponsor

Bavarian Nordic is the lead sponsor of 58 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

Of its 16 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 12 (75%) 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

General inclusion criteria, apply to all cohorts:

  • Men and women ≥18 years old.
  • Patients must have documented malignant tumor which is unresectable locally advanced or .
  • performance status 0 or 1
  • Patients must have normal organ and bone marrow function as defined in the protocol.
  • Normal (LVEF) ≥50%.
  • Troponin I within normal limits.
  • A maximum cumulative dose of prior doxorubicin ≤360 mg/m2 or epirubicin ≤720 mg/m2
  • Any approved cancer therapy (except antibodies) must be completed at least 3 weeks or 5 half-lives for small molecule inhibitors, whichever is shorter, prior to the first planned dose of TVH vaccine.
  • HER-2 positive cancer: Patients are required to be on active treatment with HER2 antibodies (trastuzumab) prior to and during study treatment.
  • Chordoma patients with progressive extracranial chordoma (base of skull is permitted) not amenable for surgical resection with curative intent, nor for radiation therapy will be enrolled.
  • Patients must have recovered (Grade 1 or baseline) from any toxicity associated with prior therapy.
  • Patients must have by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) per 1.1.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Known disease to the central nervous system, unless previously treated and responded with a minimum stable disease over 2 CT scans separated at least 4 weeks from each other, and more than 6 weeks since the last dose of dexamethasone.
  • History of allergy or untoward reaction to prior vaccination with vaccinia virus, aminoglycoside antibiotics, ciprofloxacin, or egg products.
  • Subjects should have no known evidence of being .
  • Chronic administration (defined as >5 consecutive days of >15 mg of prednisone (or equivalent) per day) of systemic within 14 days of the first planned dose of TAEK-VAC-HerBy vaccine. Use of inhaled steroids, nasal sprays, eye drops, and topical creams is allowed. Steroids premedication for CT scans is allowed.
  • cardiomyopathy, coronary disease, congestive heart failure ( class III or IV) or reduced as per institutional standards , poorly controlled hypertension (systolic >180 mm Hg or diastolic >100 mm Hg) or cerebrovascular accident within 1 year.
  • Known history of, or any evidence of active, non-infectious pneumonitis or primary pulmonary fibrosis.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(11)

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.

Metastases

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

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.

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.

HER2

HER2 is a protein, made from the ERBB2 gene, that drives the growth of some cancers. A study may look for a level of the protein, extra copies of the gene, or a particular change in it.

In breast cancer, protein tests are read as HER2-positive, HER2-low or HER2-negative; other cancers use their own rules. Check which test result the study requires.

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.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
37 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Stage 1 dose escalation: TAEK-VAC-HerBy (1x10E7 Inf.U)

    TAEK-VAC-HerBy will be administered intravenously every three weeks with three administrations in total at the dose level 1x10E7 Inf.U.

    Biological: TAEK-VAC-HerBy

  • Experimental
    Stage 1 dose escalation: TAEK-VAC-HerBy (1x10E8 Inf.U)

    TAEK-VAC-HerBy will be administered intravenously every three weeks with three administrations in total at the dose level 1x10E8 Inf.U.

    Biological: TAEK-VAC-HerBy

  • Experimental
    Stage 1 dose escalation: TAEK-VAC-HerBy (1x10E9 Inf.U)

    TAEK-VAC-HerBy will be administered intravenously every three weeks with three administrations in total at the dose level 1x10E9 Inf.U.

    Biological: TAEK-VAC-HerBy

  • Experimental
    Stage 1 dose escalation: TAEK-VAC-HerBy (1x10E10 Inf.U)

    TAEK-VAC-HerBy will be administered intravenously every three weeks with three administrations in total at the dose level 1x10E10 Inf.U.

    Biological: TAEK-VAC-HerBy

  • Experimental
    Stage 2: Chordoma Cancer Cohort

    TAEK-VAC-HerBy will be administered intravenously every three weeks with three administrations in total at the dose level defined in stage 1.

    Biological: TAEK-VAC-HerBy

  • Experimental
    Stage 2: HER2-positive Breast Cancer Cohort (Trastuzumab + TAEK-VAC-HerBy)

    TAEK-VAC-HerBy will be administered intravenously to patients who are on stable dose of trastuzumab, every three weeks with three administrations in total at the dose defined in stage 1.

    Biological: TAEK-VAC-HerBy

Interventions

  • BiologicalTAEK-VAC-HerBy

    TAEK-VAC-HerBy will be administered intravenously every three weeks with three administrations in total at the dose defined in stage 1. During stage 2, it may also be administered concurrently with a HER2 antibody(ies) (trastuzumab, pertuzumab).

This study also gives Trastuzumab, Pertuzumab. No intervention listed here names it: that was found by reading the record.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Patients with Dose Limiting Toxicity (DLT)

    Frequency of patients with DLTs

    Time frame: DLT evaluation period is 30 days after the last vaccine dose

07

Study locations

9 sites
  • Mayo Clinic - Phoenix
    Scottsdale, Arizona 85054, United States
  • Providence Saint John's Health Center
    Santa Monica, California 90404, United States
  • Mayo Clinic - Jacksonville
    Jacksonville, Florida 32224, United States
  • H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center
    Tampa, Florida 33612, United States
  • Georgia Cancer Center Augusta University
    Augusta, Georgia 30912, United States
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
  • Mayo Clinic - Rochester
    Rochester, Minnesota 55905, United States
  • Providence Cancer Institute
    Portland, Oregon 97213, United States
  • University of Washington
    Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Wedekind MF, Widemann BC, Cote G. Chordoma: Current status, problems, and future directions. Curr Probl Cancer. 2021 Aug;45(4):100771. doi: 10.1016/j.currproblcancer.2021.100771. Epub 2021 Jul 1. PubMed 34266694 ↗
09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Aug 2020 to primary completion in Feb 2024, 42 months.

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

Registered
Jan 24, 2020
First posted
Jan 29, 2020
StartActual
Aug 10, 2020
Primary completionActual
Feb 17, 2024
CompletionActual
Dec 11, 2024
Last update
Mar 3, 2025
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 3, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04246671
Lead sponsor
Bavarian Nordic
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 29, 2020
Start date
Aug 10, 2020
Primary completion
Feb 17, 2024
Completion
Dec 11, 2024
Last update
Mar 3, 2025

Study contacts

Mary (Nora) L Disis, MD
principal investigator · University of Washington Medicine Seattle

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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