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TerminatedNCT04990479Updated Mar 20, 2025

Nous-PEV: a Novel Immunotherapy for Lung Cancer and Melanoma

A Phase 1 interventional study of GAd-PEV and MVA-PEV in Melanoma (Skin) and Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma, sponsored by Nouscom SRL. Terminated at 7 sites in 3 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-03-20.

Sponsored by Nouscom SRL · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was terminated
Terminated by Sponsor
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
7
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

From Protocol v3.0 dated 16Jun2022. This is an international, multicenter, open-label, multiple cohort, First in Human, phase 1b clinical study, designed to evaluate safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity, and to detect any preliminary evidence of anti-tumor activity of a personalized vaccine (PEV) based on GAd-PEV priming and MVA-PEV boosting, combined with SoC first-line immunotherapy using an anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor in patients with unresectable stage III/IV cutaneous melanoma or with stage IV NSCLC (PDL1 ≥ 50%). The PEV vaccines will be prepared on an individual basis, following a tumor biopsy performed at the time of screening and subsequent NGS analysis, to identify patient-specific tumor mutations. Both neoantigen-encoding genetic vaccines are administered intramuscularly using 1 prime with GAd-PEV and 3 boosts with MVA-PEV in combination with the licensed programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1)-blocking antibody pembrolizumab in adult patients in patients with unresectable stage III/IV cutaneous melanoma (Cohort a) or with stage IV NSCLC (PDL1 ≥ 50%) (Cohort b).

Read the detailed description

Overall Study Design:

  • This is an open-label, non-randomized, dose-confirmation and cohort expansion phase 1b first-in-human study, in which 28 patients, expandable up to 34 evaluable patients in case of DLT.

Study IMPs:

Nous-PEV vaccine is composed of 2 sets of IMPs:

  • GAd-PEV
  • MVA-PEV

Treatment phases:

A) Induction phase with pembrolizumab (cycles 1, 2 and 3). B) Priming phase including 1 GAd-PEV administration with pembrolizumab (cycle 4).

C) Boosting phase including 3 boosting administrations of MVA-PEV with pembrolizumab (cycles 5, 6 and 7).

02

Conditions studied

  • Melanoma (Skin)
  • Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma
03

In context

Melanoma

3,006 studies on the registry are indexed under Melanoma; 520 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 7 is below the median of 38 across 2,351 interventional studies indexed under Melanoma.

Browse Melanoma studies →

Lead sponsor

Nouscom SRL is the lead sponsor of 2 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

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

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Main Inclusion Criteria for Patients in Cohorts 1a and 2a:

  1. Age ≥ 18 years.
  2. Patients with histologically or cytologically confirmed unresectable stage III or stage IV Cutaneous Melanoma, as per AJCC staging system (8th edition). First-line treatment-naive patients.
  3. Participation in this trial will be dependent upon supplying tumor tissue from newly obtained specimen. Newly obtained biopsies of a tumor lesion, not previously irradiated, must be provided in the form of excisional biopsies, resected tissue or core needle biopsies.
  4. Presence of at least 1 measurable lesion by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging per RECIST v1.1 by the local site Investigator / radiologist assessment
  5. Presence of at least one lesion amenable to repeated biopsy, ideally not the one being used for measuring.
  6. Willingness to undergo a minimum of two fresh lesion biopsies (pre-treatment and on-treatment).
  7. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0 to 1.
  8. Life expectancy of at least 12 months.
  9. Adequate renal, hepatic, and hematologic functions
  10. A female patient is eligible to participate if she is not pregnant and not breastfeeding
  11. A male patient must agree to use an adequate contraception

Main Inclusion Criteria for Patients in Cohort 2b:

  1. Age ≥ 18 years.
  2. Histologically or cytologically confirmed stage IV squamous or non-squamous NSCLC without EGFR or ALK/ROS1 /RET genomic alteration.
  3. Tumor expression with PD-L1 ≥50% tumor proportion score (TPS).
  4. First-line treatment-naïve patients.
  5. Participation in this trial will be dependent upon supplying tumor tissue from a newly obtained specimen. Newly obtained biopsies of a tumor lesion, not previously irradiated, must be provided in the form of excisional biopsies, resected tissue or core needle biopsies.
  6. Presence of at least 1 measurable lesion by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) per RECIST v1.1 as determined by the local site Investigator / radiologist assessment.
  7. Presence of at least one tumor lesion amenable to repeated biopsy, if possible, ideally not the one being used for measuring.
  8. Willingness to undergo a minimum of two fresh tumor biopsies (pre-treatment and on-treatment).
  9. ECOG performance status 0 to 1.
  10. Life expectancy of at least 6 months.
  11. Adequate renal, hepatic, and hematologic functions
  12. A female patient is eligible to participate if she is not pregnant and not breastfeeding
  13. A male patient must agree to use a contraceptive during the treatment period and for at least 180 days after the last dose of study treatment and refrain from donating sperm during this period.

Main Exclusion Criteria for patients in all Cohorts:

  1. Currently receiving treatment with another investigational medicinal product.
  2. Prior therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Patients must not have received any investigational immunotherapy either.
  3. Prior radiotherapy within 2 weeks of enrolment, or within 4 weeks of enrolment in the case of radiation to central nervous system (CNS), which requires ≥ 4-week washout.
  4. Prior allogenic tissue or solid organ transplant.
  5. Active interstitial lung disease (ILD)/pneumonitis or a history of ILD/pneumonitis requiring treatment with systemic steroids and/or whose pulse oximetry is less than 92% "on room air".
  6. Limiting cardiac criteria: prolonged QT interval or QT prolongation risk factors, clinically important abnormalities in rhythm, conduction or morphology of resting ECG, e.g. complete LBBB, third degree heart block, risk of arrythmic events, ejection fraction under lower limit of normal.
  7. Major (according to the Investigator's judgment) surgery within 12 weeks before enrolment.
  8. Known additional malignancy that is progressing or requires active treatment, or history of other malignancy within 2 years of study entry.
  9. Immunosuppression including the continued use of systemic (at prednisone dose equivalent of > 10 mg) or topical steroids at or near the planned i.m. injection site or the use of immunosuppressive agents for any concurrent condition in the 4 weeks prior to first study treatment administration. Inhaled and eye drop-containing corticosteroids are permitted.
  10. Previous vaccination (either therapeutic and/or prophylactic) against cancer.
  11. History of autoimmune disease in the last 5 years, including any active autoimmune disease except vitiligo or childhood asthma.
  12. Chronic or concurrent active infectious disease requiring systemic antibodies, antifungal, or antiviral treatment.
  13. Known Medical History of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or known Medical History of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV testing is not required unless mandated by the local health authority.
  14. Active hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection that requires treatment, or at risk for HBV reactivation
  15. Known CNS metastasis and/or carcinomatous meningitis.
  16. Known cerebral edema.
  17. Live vaccine received within 30 days before treatment initiation.
05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Cohort 1a

    Cohort 1a: 3 patients (expandable to 9) with unresectable stage III / IV Cutaneous Melanoma.

    Biological: GAd-PEV · Biological: MVA-PEV

  • Experimental
    Cohort 2a

    Cohort 2a:13 patients with unresectable stage III / IV Cutaneous Melanoma.

    Biological: GAd-PEV · Biological: MVA-PEV

  • Experimental
    Cohort 2b

    Cohort 2b: 12 patients with stage IV NSCLC (PDL1≥ 50%).

    Biological: GAd-PEV · Biological: MVA-PEV

Interventions

  • BiologicalGAd-PEV

    Priming phase including 1 GAd-PEV administration with Standard of Care pembrolizumab (cycle 4).

  • BiologicalMVA-PEV

    Boosting phase including 3 boosting administrations of MVA-PEV with Standard of Care pembrolizumab (cycles 5, 6 and 7).

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Safety and tolerability: incidence of treatment- emerging adverse events. AEs characterized by type, severity (graded by CTCAE v.5.0), Timing, seriousness and relationship to study treatments.

    * Frequency, duration, and severity of adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs) using CTCAE v5.0 criteria. * Changes in vital signs and clinical evaluations. * Changes in clinical laboratory blood samples. * Dose-limiting toxicity (DLT)

    Time frame: Up to 110 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. RP2D confirmation 2. Clinical efficacy:

    RP2D confirmation based on safety and tolerability

    Time frame: Up to 110 weeks

  2. Clinical efficacy

    Clinical efficacy based on Overall response rate (ORR); Best overall response (BOR); Duration of response (DoR); Progression-free survival (PFS); Overall survival (OS), all as defined in tumor imaging, RECIST 1.1

    Time frame: Up to 110 weeks

Other outcomes

  1. Exploratory outcome: immunogenicity

    PBMC-derived T-cell responses against vaccine FSPs, as measured by IFN-gamma ELISpot

    Time frame: Up to 110 weeks

07

Study locations

7 sites
  • Grand Hopital de Charleroi, Grand Rue 3, 6000 Charleroi
    Charleroi, 6000, Belgium
  • UZ Leuven Hospital, Campus Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven
    Leuven, 3000, Belgium
  • Institut Catalá d'Oncologia ICO L'Hospitalet. Av Gran Via de L'Hospitalet 199-203. 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
    Barcelona, 08908, Spain
  • START Madrid - Centro Integral Oncológico Clara Campal, HM CIOCC Hospital Universitario HM Sanchinarro, 28050 Madrid. Spain
    Madrid, 28050, Spain
  • START Madrid-FJD, Hospital Fundación Jiménez Diaz Avda. Reyes Católicos 2. 28040, Madrid, Spain
    Madrid, Spain
  • Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria INCLIVA - Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia. Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 17 CP 46010 Valencia, Spain
    Valencia, 46010, Spain
  • Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre. Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, EH4 2SP, UK
    Edinburgh, Scotland EH4 2SP, United Kingdom
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Leoni G, D'Alise AM, Tucci FG, Micarelli E, Garzia I, De Lucia M, Langone F, Nocchi L, Cotugno G, Bartolomeo R, Romano G, Allocca S, Troise F, Nicosia A, Lahm A, Scarselli E. VENUS, a Novel Selection Approach to Improve the Accuracy of Neoantigens' Prediction. Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Aug 9;9(8):880. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9080880. PubMed 34452005 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 20, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04990479
Lead sponsor
Nouscom SRL
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 4, 2021
Start date
Jun 11, 2021
Primary completion
Mar 5, 2024
Completion
Mar 5, 2024
Last update
Mar 20, 2025

Study contacts

Sven Gogov, MD
study director · Nouscom SRL

Oversight

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

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