CClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06981325CEMI-firstUpdated Mar 11, 2026

Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety of Cemiplimab as First Line Treatment for Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) Patients

A Phase 2 interventional study of Cemiplimab in Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) and First Line Treatment, sponsored by Institut für Klinische Krebsforschung IKF GmbH at Krankenhaus Nordwest. Recruiting at 7 sites in Germany. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-03-11.

Sponsored by Institut für Klinische Krebsforschung IKF GmbH at Krankenhaus Nordwest · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Aug 2025; still recruiting 1 year 2 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
34
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The study is an open-label, singel arm, prospective, multicenter phase II trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of Cemiplimab when applied as first-line therapy in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC), which were not pretreated with hedgehog inhibitors (HHI).

Read the detailed description

The present study is an explorative, investigator-initatied, single-arm, multicentre phase II trial. Patients with locally advanced BCC without pretreatment with hedgehog inhibitors such as vismodegib and sonidegib will receive Cemiplimab (350 mg, i.v.) at day 1 of each 21 days cycle for up to 12 months (max. 17 cycles) or until intolerable toxicity or disease progression, whatever occurs first. All patients will be followed up until death or for up to 12 months after last patient last application of Cemiplimab. The treatment response will be assessed every 12 weeks (± 7 days) during the treatment and the follow up phase. In addition, tumor samples will be collected and used for translational research providing the basis for the establishment of potential biomarkers correlating with the efficacy of Cemiplimab. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Cemiplimab when applied as first-line treatment in advanced, HHI naïve BCC measured by objective response rate (ORR) after 6 months of treatment. Secondary objective is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Cemiplimab as first-line treatment in advanced BCC.

02

Conditions studied

  • Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC)
  • First Line Treatment

Keywords

  • BCC
  • Skin Cancer
  • Basal Cell Carcinoma
  • anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody
  • HHI naïve
  • Cemiplimab
03

In context

Carcinoma, Basal Cell

364 studies on the registry are indexed under Carcinoma, Basal Cell; 66 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 34 is below the median of 41 across 258 interventional studies indexed under Carcinoma, Basal Cell.

Browse Carcinoma, Basal Cell studies →

Lead sponsor

Institut für Klinische Krebsforschung IKF GmbH at Krankenhaus Nordwest is the lead sponsor of 63 studies on the registry; 16 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

Inclusion criteria

  1. Signed informed consent form available
  2. Patient* 18 years or older at time of signing informed consent form
  3. Centrally confirmed histological diagnosis of BCC

    NOTE: Tumor tissue to be sent to Central Pathology during screening procedure:

    • Formalin-fixed, parrafin-embedded (FFPE) tumor specimen in a paraffin block (preferred) OR
    • approximately 10 sections (5µm thickness) on uncoated slides and 10 sections (5µm thickness) on Superfrost Ultra slides containing unstained, freshly cut, serial sections to be submitted along with associated pathology report (please refer to section 11.1.1 for details)
  4. Locally advanced stage without distant metastases, not amenable for surgery or radiotherapy or surgery/radiotherapy contraindicated or refused by patient (as evidenced in source data)
  5. Expected survival of at least 6 months
  6. ECOG performance status 0 or 1
  7. Adequate laboratory parameters particularly for the blood count, renal and liver function parameters.

    1. Absolute number of neutrophils ≥ 1.5 x 109/L
    2. Platelets ≥ 75 x 109/L
    3. Hemoglobin ≥ 9 g/dL
    4. Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times the upper limit of normal (ULN), (patients with Gilbert´s Disease and total bilirubin up to 3x ULN may be eligible after approval from trial's medical expert)
    5. AST (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT) ≤ 3x ULN
    6. AP ≤ 2.5x ULN
    7. Serum creatinine ≤ 2x ULN or creatinine clearance ≥ 40 mL/min
  8. Absence of other severe comorbidities
  9. Resolution of any acute, clinically significant treatment-related adverse events from prior therapy/procedure to Grade ≤ 1 prior to study entry, with the exception of alopecia.
  10. Negative serum pregnancy test done less than or equal to 7 days prior to enrollment, for females of childbearing potential only.
  11. Sexually active women of childbearing potential (WOCBP) and men with WOCBP partners must be prepared to use suitable contraceptive method with a failure rate of \< 1% per year during the treatment period and for at least 6 months after the last dose of Cemiplimab

    • There are no data that indicate special gender distribution. Therefore, patients will be enrolled in the study gender-independently

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Pretreatment with systemic immunotherapy (such as PD-1/PD-L1 or CTL4) or targeted therapy (such as hedgehog inhibitor) NOTE: Prior treatment with imiquimod or other topical or intralesional immune modulators will not be exclusionary
  2. Any other non-radiation anti-cancer therapy (e.g. imiquimod, photodynamic therapy; neither investigational nor standard of care) within 30 days (from date of last administration) of initial Cemiplimab administration or if planned during the study duration
  3. Ongoing or recent (within 5 years) evidence of significant autoimmune disease that required systemic immunosuppressive therapy, excluding: vitiligo, childhood asthma that has resolved, type 1 diabetes, residual hypothyroidism requiring only hormone replacement, or psoriasis that does not require systemic treatment
  4. Other neoplasia, in particular hematologic diseases that might impair immune response, such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia, myelodysplastic or myeloproliferative disease and patients with Gorlin-Goltz syndrom
  5. Immunosuppressive corticosteroid doses (> 10 mg prednisone daily or equivalent) within 4 weeks prior to the first dose of Cemiplimab NOTE: Patients who require brief courses of steroids (e.g., as prophylaxis for imaging studies due to hypersensitivity to contrast agents) are eligible for participation. Furthermore, patients who received mineralocorticoids (e.g., fludrocortisone), corticosteroids for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma, or low-dose corticosteroids for orthostatic hypotension or replacement in case of adrenal or hypophysis insufficiency are eligible for participation.
  6. Known allergic/hypersensitive reaction to the study drug and any of its excipients or history of documented allergic/hypersensitive reactions to antibody treatments
  7. Active infection requiring systemic therapy, including uncontrolled HIV, HBV and HCV infection or diagnosis of immunodeficiency.

    NOTE: Patients are eligible if:

    • Patients have controlled HIV infection with CD4 counts is > 350 cells/µL and viral load is undectable [HIV RNA PCR]
    • Patients positive for HBV surface antigen have controlled HBV infection receiving anti-viral therapy and with undectable serum viral load [HBV DNA PCR]. Patients must remain on anti-viral therapy for at least 6 months after last dose of Cemiplimab
    • Patients positive for HCV antibody have controlled HCV infection with undectable viral load [HCV RNA PCR]
  8. History of pneumonitis within the last 3 years
  9. Patients with history of solid organ transplant (patients with prior corneal transplants may be allowed to enroll after discussion with and approval from the Lead Investigator)
  10. Comorbid systemic illnesses or other severe concurrent disease which, in the judgment of the investigator, would make the patient inappropriate for entry into this study or interfere significantly with the proper assessment of safety and toxicity of the prescribed regimens
  11. Receipt of live vaccines (including attenuated) within 30 days of first administration of Cemiplimab
  12. Pregnancy or lactation period.
  13. Medical or psychological conditions that would not permit the patient to complete the study or sign informed consent.
  14. Substance abuse, medical, psychological or social conditions that may interfere with the patient's participation in the study or evaluation of the study results
  15. Legal incapacity or limited legal capacity.
  16. On-treatment participation in another clinical trial in the period 30 days prior to start of the study treatment and during the study
05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Cemiplimab - Single Arm

    Single Arm with Cemiplimab 350 mg i.v. on day 1 of every 21 days cycle for up to 12 months (max. 17 cycles).

    Drug: Cemiplimab

Interventions

  • DrugCemiplimab

    Cemiplimab 350 mg i.v. on day 1 of every 21 days cycle for up to 12 months (max. 17 cycles).

    Also known as: LIBTAYO

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Objective Response Rate (ORR) at six months

    ORR@6months, defined as the rate of patients assessed with complete or partial response (CR or PR) according to ERIVANCE-like criteria as best overall response, relative to the total number of patients as evaluated 6 months after treatment allocation.

    Time frame: 24 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Objective Response Rate (ORR)

    rate of patients assessed with complete or partial response (CR or PR) as best overall response, relative to the total number of patients.

    Time frame: 42 months

  2. Progression Free Survival (PFS)

    time from date of allocation to treatment to the date of the first objectively documented tumor progression, as determined by investigators, or death due to any cause.

    Time frame: 42 months

  3. Duration of Response (DoR)

    length of time from initial response (CR/PR) to first objectively documented progression or death.

    Time frame: 42 months

  4. Overall Survival (OS)

    time from date of allocation to treatment until the date of death from any cause

    Time frame: 42 months

  5. Time to next systemic treatment (TTNsT)

    time from date of allocation to treatment to initiation of the next line of systemic therapy

    Time frame: 42 months

  6. Safety (AEs and SAEs)

    Incidence of adverse events and serious adverse events

    Time frame: 42 months

  7. AE severity

    Severity of adverse events by CTCAE v5.0 grade

    Time frame: 42 months

  8. Safety (AEs)

    Number of participants with treatment-related adverse events as assessed by CTCAE v5.0

    Time frame: 42 months

Other outcomes

  1. Determination of molecular biomarkers and their correlation with objective response rate (ORR)

    Biosamples will be used for determination of molecular biomarkers and their correlation with objective response rate (ORR) by assessing e.g., gene expression signatures, tumor mutational burden including mutational signatures as well as morphological and cellular characteristics of the tumor microenvironment.

    Time frame: 42 months

07

Study locations

7 of 7 sites recruiting
  • Helios Klinikum Erfurt
    Erfurt, Germany
    Recruiting
  • Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
    Erlangen, Germany
    Recruiting
  • Nationales Centrum für Tumorerkrankungen (NCT)
    Heidelberg, Germany
    Recruiting
  • Universitätsklinikum Leipzig
    Leipzig, Germany
    Recruiting
  • Johannes Wesling Klinikum
    Minden, Germany
    Recruiting
  • Helios Klinikum Oberhausen
    Oberhausen, Germany
    Recruiting
  • Universitätsklinikum Tübingen
    Tübingen, Germany
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No — No IPD will be shared.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 11, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06981325
Lead sponsor
Institut für Klinische Krebsforschung IKF GmbH at Krankenhaus Nordwest
Collaborators
Skin Cancer Center Minden, Department of Dermatology, Johannes-Wesling-Klinikum Minden, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 20, 2025
Start date
Aug 7, 2025
Primary completion
Oct 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Jul 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Mar 11, 2026

Study contacts

Ralf Gutzmer, Prof. Dr. med.
Contact
Ralf.Gutzmer@Muehlenkreiskliniken.de
+49 571/ 790 4501
Michelle Tez
Contact
tez.michelle@ikf-khnw.de
+4969 / 5899 787 65
Salah-Eddin Al-Batran, Prof. Dr. med.
study director · Institut für Klinische Krebsforschung IKF GmbH
Ralf Gutzmer, Prof. Dr. med.
principal investigator · Johannes Wesling Klinikum Minden

Oversight

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

Interested in this study?

Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.

Contact study team

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

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.

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.

Start the discussion