A Phase 2 interventional study of Toripalimab and Paclitaxel in Squamous Cell Carcinoma Head and Neck Cancer (HNSCC), sponsored by Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-31.
Sponsored by Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if the drug Toripalimab can prime the tumor to optimize response to Paclitaxel in HNSCC patients with a decrease performance status in a way that make both drugs well tolerated and improve partial or complete response rate over each treatment. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Toripalimab treatment will be administered on an outpatient basis. Toripalimab will be given in the clinic on Day 1. Intravenous (IV) infusions will be given every three weeks thereafter for the first seven weeks of the study. Administration follows standard of care.
Paclitaxel treatment will be administered on an outpatient basis as per standard of care once weekly for a total of eight weeks during Weeks 8-15 of each cycle. Premedication and administration follow standard of care. After eight weeks of chemotherapy, the participant finishes the cycle with two weeks of rest (no treatment).
This will be repeated for a total of 51 weeks total of 3 cycles (each cycle is 17 weeks) We will study sequential ICI and CT on HNSCC, and the impact on quality of life in addition to studying the tumor microenvironment. Participants undergo an optional biopsy before and after eight weeks of weekly paclitaxel. To explore the cytotoxic signature, we will calculate the enrichment scores for canonical cytotoxic markers (GZMA, GZMB, GZMK, GNLY, IFNG, PRF1 and NKG7). To estimate the signature of collagen formation, we will calculate enrichment scores using the gene lists from the REACTOME_COLLAGEN_FORMATION pathway (msigdb.v7.5.1.symbols.gmt; https://www.gsea-msigdb.org/gsea/index.jsp). To explore the cell type contexts, we will perform principal component analysis (PCA) and then uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) using the RunPCA and RunUMAP functions based on the cell type proportion inferred by spatial transcriptomics deconvolution (STRIDE). Results will be summarized using descriptive statistics, including mean, median, standard deviation, range, count, and percentage, as appropriate.
2,018 studies on the registry are indexed under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck; 573 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 22 is below the median of 48 across 1,653 interventional studies indexed under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck.
Browse Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck studies →Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is the lead sponsor of 161 studies on the registry; 19 are open to participants now.
Of its 8 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 6 (75%) have results posted.
Compared within Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Head and Neck Neoplasms. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
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.
Participant must have:
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants who are taking prednisone or equivalent >10 mg per day prior to the start of treatment.
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.
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
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.
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.
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.
A planned gap after a treatment, so that its effects can lessen before the study treatment or a study assessment. Ask the study team and the doctor who prescribed it before changing any medicine.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Washout period
A planned gap after a treatment, so that its effects can lessen before the study treatment or a study assessment. Ask the study team and the doctor who prescribed it before changing any medicine.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Toripalimab 240mg on weeks 1, 4 and 7 in combination with Paclitaxel 80mg/m2 weeks 8-15 with a rest on Weeks 16-17 for 3 cycles. One cycle equals 17 weeks
Drug: Toripalimab · Drug: Paclitaxel
Toripalimab 240mg intravenously every three weeks on weeks 1, 4 and 7 of a 17 week cycle.
Also known as: Loqtorzi, toripalimab-tpzi, JS001, TAB001, Tuoyi
Paclitaxel 80mg/m2 intravenously over weekly for 8 weeks on weeks 8-15 of each cycle times 3 cycles
Objective Response Rate (ORR)
The ORR is calculated as the proportion of participants with complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) per RECIST v1.1 among all treated participants. CR is the disappearance of all lesions; PR is at least a 30% decrease in the sum of diameters of target lesions. The two-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) for ORR will be estimated using Clopper-Pearson's method.
Time frame: Up to 1 year after treatment initiation
Overall Survival (OS)
The OS is the length of time from the start of treatment that participants are still alive. The distribution of OS will be graphically summarized using a Kaplan-Meier (KM) curve with corresponding median and two-sided 95% CIs computed using KM estimates.
Time frame: Up to 2 years after treatment initiation
Progression Free Survival (PFS)
PFS is defined as the time duration from treatment start to progression or death from any cause, whichever occurs first. Progressive disease (PD) is defined as at least a 20% increase in the sum of diameters of target lesions. The distribution of PFS will be graphically summarized using a KM curve with corresponding median and two-sided 95% CIs computed using KM estimates.
Time frame: Up to 1 year after treatment initiation
Duration of Response (DOR)
DOR is the length of time that a tumor continues to respond to treatment without the cancer growing or spreading. The distribution of DOR will be graphically summarized using a KM curve with corresponding median and two-sided 95% CIs computed using KM estimates.
Time frame: Up to 2 years after treatment initiation
Impact on Quality of Life (QOL)
QOL will be measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy for Head \& Neck cancer (FACT-H\&N). The distribution of QOL will be assessed, and if necessary, a data transformation will be applied to meet normality assumptions. Longitudinal QOL will be summarized using the mean, median, standard deviation (SD), range, and 95% CI across all time points. Minimally important differences (MID) in FACT scores will be determined; for FACT-General the MID is 3 to 7 and for all the subscales the MID is 2 to 3.
Time frame: Up to 1 year after treatment initiation
Start is estimated for Sep 2026; primary completion for May 2028, 19 months later.
Of 298 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, half reached primary completion within 56 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 37 and three quarters within 85. This study's planned 19 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 366 studies reached it within 53 months; a quarter within 35 and three quarters within 82.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions 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.
Studies of the drugs tested here: Toripalimab · Paclitaxel
Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck →
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute →