ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT07136545Updated Jul 6, 2026

A Phase I/II Trial of HCB101 in Combination With Pembrolizumab for Patients With Platinum-Refractory, Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SirH&N Trial)

A Phase 1/2 interventional study of HCB101 and Pembrolizumab in HNSCC, sponsored by Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan. Recruiting at 3 sites in Taiwan. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-06.

Sponsored by Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Aug 2025; still recruiting 1 year 2 months later.
Phase
Phase 1/2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
50
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-12

Among 112 studies in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck with a site in Taiwan — 30 open to participants now, 48 under way, 16 of them phase 3. Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck · Taiwan.

Planned enrollment
83rd of 101
50 · median 205
Started
2025
with 7 others
Phase 1/2
17 of 112
8 open now
Primary completion
2026-12
later than 10 of 47 live
Registered
106th of 112
by date

Among the 112 studies in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck with a site in Taiwan, this one is the 83rd largest by planned enrollment of the 101 interventional ones, is one of 8 that started in 2025, is one of 17 in phase 1/2, reaches primary completion later than 10 of the 47 other live ones, and was the 106th registered.

By phase

112 studies; the count open now beside each. This study's row is marked.

Phase 228 · 3 open
Phase 124 · 5 open
Phase 323 · 7 open
Phase 1/2this study17 · 8 open
Observational11 · 3 open
No phase5 · 2 open
Phase 2/34 · 2 open

By the year they started

First in 2004; this study’s year is marked. 8 started in 2025.

Size and results

Median enrollment 205 across the 101 interventional studies, 100 across the 11 observational. Of the 52 that completed or were terminated, 30 (58%) have results posted.

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02

Study summary

This is a non-randomized, open-label, dose-escalation and dose-expansion phase I/II clinical study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of HCB101 in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with platinum-refractory recurrent/metastatic HNSCC. The trial consists of two phases: the dose-escalation phase (I) and the dose-expansion phase (II).

Subjects will receive a weekly single dose of HCB101 IV infusion over 60 (±10) minutes on Days 1, 8, and 15 in each 21-day cycle in combination with pembrolizumab (200 mg IV day 1; given every 21 days) until unacceptable AE(s), radiographic or clinically documented disease progression, withdrawal of consent, loss to follow-up, death, or termination of the study whichever occurs first.

03

Conditions studied

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. Subjects are able to understand and willing to provide signed as described in protocol, which includes compliance with the requirements and restrictions listed in the informed consent form (ICF) and in this protocol, including study visits and study-related procedures.

    • 2. Male and female subjects of ≥18 years of age, inclusive, at the time of signing the informed consent.
    • 3. With histologically/ confirmed diagnosis of HNSCC
    • 4. With progression after 1st cisplatin based therapy for R/M HNSCC or within 6 months after cisplatin based CCRT
    • 5. Must have at least 1 as defined by (RECIST) v1.1.
    • 6. Must have (ECOG) performance status of 0 to 2 at Screening.
    • 7. Have a of ≥12 weeks (according to the Investigator's judgment).
    • 8. Have adequate organ function, as indicated by the following laboratory parameters in below (had not received a blood transfusion, apheresis infusion, erythropoietin, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, and other relevant medical support within 14 days prior to the administration of the first dose of study intervention).

      • a) ≥1.5 × 109/L
      • b) ≥75 × 109/L
      • c) ≥9.5 g/dL
      • d) Total ≤1.5 × (ULN), \<3.0 × ULN if known Gilbert's disease
      • e) and aspartate aminotransferase ≤3× ULN and ≤5× ULN for subject with liver
      • f) ≥50 mL/min (using Cockcroft Gault equation)
      • g) Coagulation: (INR), prothrombin time (PT), and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) ≤1.5× ULN (The INR applies only to subjects who do not receive therapeutic anticoagulation). For subjects receiving therapeutic anticoagulation, the INR should be within the therapeutic range for the intended use of the anticoagulants.)
    • 9. Women of (WOCBP) must have a negative serum pregnancy test during the Screening Period (within 7 days prior to the first dose of the study intervention).

Exclusion criteria

  • 1. Medical Conditions:

    • a) With a known history of to any components of the study intervention.
    • b) Subjects who have other requiring treatment within 2 years prior to the first dose of study intervention will be excluded, except for radically treated locally curable basal or squamous cell skin cancer and other malignancies that have been treated with no relapse within 2 years.
    • c) Primary tumor in the central nervous system (CNS), or active or untreated and/or carcinomatous meningitis. Subjects with previously treated brain metastases may participate, provided they are clinically stable for at least 28 days and have no evidence of new or enlarging brain metastases and no requirements for high-dose 14 days prior to dosing with study intervention. Subjects on low-dose corticosteroids (\<20 mg prednisolone or equivalent per day) may participate.
    • d) cardiovascular condition, including 1)History of congestive heart failure ( Class >2), with only heart failure with preserved (HFpEF) included; 2)History of unstable angina within 6 months prior to the first dose of study intervention; 3)New-onset angina or myocardial infarction within 6 months prior to the first dose of study intervention; 4)New-onset of atrial fibrillation, supraventricular arrhythmia, or ventricular arrhythmia within 6 months prior to the first dose of study intervention and still in unstable condition and requiring treatment or intervention. History of atrial fibrillation, supraventricular arrhythmia, or ventricular arrhythmia will be allowed, provided the condition is stably controlled.
    • e) History or presence of an abnormal that, in the Investigator's opinion, is clinically meaningful (including corrected for heart rate using Fridericia's correction [QTcF] >470 msec at Screening, pacemaker installation, or previous diagnosis of congenital long QT syndrome).
    • f) Any previous treatment-related toxicities which have not recovered to ≤ Grade 1 as evaluated by National Cancer Institute, (NCI CTCAE) version 5.0 or baseline, except alopecia and anemia (Note: subjects with chronic Grade 2 toxicities which are well managed and stable may be eligible per the discretion of the Investigator, Grade 2 chemotherapy-induced neuropathy.)
    • g) With known inherited or acquired bleeding disorders or bleeding diathesis.
    • h) With a previously documented diagnosis of hemolytic anemia or Evans Syndrome in the last 3 months.
    • i) With active diseases that required systemic treatment (e.g., disease-modifying agents, corticosteroids, or ) within the past two years are excluded. Replacement therapy (e.g., thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroids for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency) is allowed.
    • j) With a history of or current non-infectious pneumonitis.
    • k) With a history of severe hypersensitivity to monoclonal antibodies.
    • 2. Prior/Concomitant Therapy/Treatment

      • a) Subjects who have undergone major surgery or radical radiotherapy within 28 days prior to the first dose of study intervention.
      • b) Subjects who have undergone any or approved systemic cancer therapy (including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormonal therapy, and herbal/alternative therapies with anti-cancer indications or targeted therapy) within 14 days or 5 half lives, whichever is longer, prior to the first dose of the study intervention.
      • c) Subjects who have used herbal medication within 14 days prior to the first dose of the study intervention.
      • d) Subjects who are active using of vitamin K antagonist anticoagulant like warfarin. Use of low molecular weight heparin and factor Xa inhibitors will be permitted on a case-by-case basis. There will be no restriction for daily aspirin ≤ 100 mg/QD.
      • e) Subjects who have received any treatment targeting the 7 or SIRPα pathway.
      • f) Subjects who have previously received pembrolizumab treatment.
      • g) Subjects who have received a within 30 days prior to pembrolizumab administration.
      • h) Subjects diagnosed with immunodeficiency, receiving systemic steroid therapy, or having received any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior to the first dose of pembrolizumab.
    • 3. Participation in another clinical study with an investigational product administered in the last 14 days or 5 half-lives (whichever is longer) prior to receiving the first dose of study intervention. An investigational device was used within 28 days prior to the first dose of study intervention.
    • 4. Reproductive and breastfeeding

      • a) Women of who are unable to use effective during treatment and for 4 months after the last dose.
      • b) Women who are breastfeeding during treatment and for 4 months after the last dose.
    • 5. Infections:

      • a) An uncontrolled acute infection, an active infection requiring systemic treatment, or subjects who have received systemic antibiotics within 7 days prior to the first dose of the study intervention (Note: prophylaxis use of systemic antibiotics treatment for upper tract infection is allowed as long as there is no violation of the requirement of concomitant medications).
      • b) Known history of (HIV) infection.
      • c) Active tuberculosis.
      • d) Known history of or infection. Subjects who test positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody.
    • 6. Any other medical (e.g., class B or C, pulmonary, metabolic, congenital, endocrinal or CNS disease, etc.), psychiatric, or social condition deemed by the Investigator to be likely to interfere with a subject's rights, safety, welfare or ability to sign , cooperate and participate in the study, or interfere with the interpretation of the results.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(37)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Metastases

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

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)

Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.

Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ECG (electrocardiogram)

A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.

QT and QTc

On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.

The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.

CTCAE grade

The US National Cancer Institute’s scale of how severe an adverse event is — any unwanted medical event during a study, such as a symptom, an illness or an abnormal test result, whether or not a treatment caused it. Whether it did is judged separately.

1
Mild.
2
Moderate.
3
Severe.
4
Life-threatening.
5
Death due to the event.

“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.

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.

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.

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.

CD4 count

The number of CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell, in a given amount of blood. It is used to follow how well the immune system is doing in HIV.

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.

Reproductive potential

Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.

Criteria about it usually ask 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.

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.

Child-Pugh class

A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1 / Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
50 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    HCB101+Pembrolizumab

    Drug: HCB101 · Drug: Pembrolizumab

Interventions

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of subjects with MTD of HCB101 in combination with pembrolizumab

    To evaluate the safety and efficacy of HCB101 in combination with pembrolizumab

    Time frame: 2 Years

  2. Overall Rate Response (ORR)

    To evaluate the safety and efficacy of HCB101 in combination with pembrolizumab

    Time frame: 2 Years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number/incidence and percentage of subjects with AEs, SAEs, and TEAEs

    To characterize the safety profiles of HCB101 in combination with pembrolizumab.

    Time frame: 2 Years

  2. Progression-Free Survival (PFS)

    To evaluate the anti-tumor activity of HCB101 in combination with pembrolizumab.

    Time frame: 2 Years

  3. Quality of life (EORTC QLQ-H&N35) change

    To evaluate the quality of life (QOL) change after treatment of HCB101 in combination with pembrolizumab

    Time frame: 2 Years

07

Study locations

3 of 3 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Aug 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2026, 16 months after the start.

Of 45 non-industry phase 1/2 interventional studies under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, half reached primary completion within 62 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 51 and three quarters within 83. This study's planned 16 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 138 studies reached it within 61 months; a quarter within 47 and three quarters within 82.

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

Registered
Aug 5, 2025
First posted
Aug 22, 2025
StartActual
Aug 13, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Dec 31, 2026
CompletionEst.
Dec 31, 2026
Last update
Jul 6, 2026
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 Jul 6, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07136545
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 22, 2025
Start date
Aug 13, 2025
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 6, 2026

Study contacts

Iris chang
Contact
iris.c8987223@protonmail.com
+886-2-2871-2121 ext. 65718
Mu-Hsin Chang
principal investigator · Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan

Oversight

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

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Studies of the drug tested here: SIRP-alpha-Fc Fusion Protein HCB101

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