Cemiplimab for the Treatment of Untreated Brain Metastases From PD-L1 >= 50% Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Study Purpose

This phase II trial tests how well cemiplimab works in treating patients with PD-L1 >= 50% non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has spread from where it first started (primary site) to the brain (metastases). Approximately 10% of patients diagnosed with metastatic NSCLC present with brain metastases and another 30% develop brain metastases during the illness. Currently, the management of brain metastases relies on stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), which has high rates of local control, but in combination with systemic therapy, can cause certain toxicities, including central nervous system (CNS) necrosis or potential cognitive changes or memory deficits. Additionally, in patients with numerous brain metastases, whole brain radiation (WBRT) is recommended, leading to significant neurocognitive deficits. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as cemiplimab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. However, there is little data on the effectiveness of newer systemic therapies, such as immunotherapy, in penetrating and treating previously untreated brain metastases. Cemiplimab without upfront SRS or WBRT for asymptomatic brain metastases may help delay the need for radiation in patients with untreated brain metastases from PD-L1 >= 50% NSCLC.

Recruitment Criteria

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Healthy volunteers are participants who do not have a disease or condition, or related conditions or symptoms

No
Study Type

An interventional clinical study is where participants are assigned to receive one or more interventions (or no intervention) so that researchers can evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or health-related outcomes.


An observational clinical study is where participants identified as belonging to study groups are assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.


Searching Both is inclusive of interventional and observational studies.

Interventional
Eligible Ages 18 Years and Over
Gender All
More Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • - Documented informed consent of the participant and/or legally authorized representative.
  • - Assent, when appropriate, will be obtained per institutional guidelines.
  • - Age: >= 18 years.
  • - Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) =< 1.
  • - Ability to read and understand English for questionnaires.
  • - Histologically confirmed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) - PD-L1 >= 50% - Advanced disease.
  • - Measurable disease in the brain >= 1 untreated brain metastasis (measuring 5-15 mm) on brain MRI with contrast within 30 days of enrollment.
  • - Patients must not require corticosteroids for the management of symptoms from their brain metastases in the opinion of the treating investigator.
  • - Patients must be naïve to immune check point inhibitors targeting PD-1 and PD-L1.
  • - Prior treatment with chemotherapy is allowed.
Patients who have started chemotherapy for their current disease presentation may have received up to 1 cycle of chemotherapy alone (without cemiplimab) prior to enrollment and the initiation of the protocol-specified regimen of cemiplimab. In patients who have previously received platinum-based chemotherapy for a prior disease presentation, for eligibility there must be at least 21 days since the last exposure to platinum-based chemotherapy.
  • - Prior exposure to immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1 and/or PD-L1 is allowed if patients have been off of therapy for at least 1 year Life expectancy >= 3 months in the opinion of the treating investigators.
  • - Up to 10 asymptomatic (defined as no neurologic symptoms at presentation and not requiring steroids) brain lesions allowed up to 15 mm in size.
Patients with lesions > 15 mm or with a lesion at or near a critical structure (i.e. brainstem, optic structures) may still be eligible if that lesion(s) is treated and others are available that fit the above criteria.
  • - Total bilirubin =< 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) (unless has Gilbert's disease) (performed within 30 days prior to day 1 of protocol therapy) - Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) =< 1.5 x ULN (performed within 30 days prior to day 1 of protocol therapy) - Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) =< 3 x ULN (performed within 30 days prior to day 1 of protocol therapy) - Creatinine clearance of >= 60 mL/min per 24 hour urine test or the Cockcroft-Gault formula (performed within 30 days prior to day 1 of protocol therapy) - Women of childbearing potential (WOCBP): negative urine or serum pregnancy test (performed within 30 days prior to day 1 of protocol therapy) - If the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required.
  • - Agreement by females and males of childbearing potential* to use an effective method of birth control or abstain from heterosexual activity for the course of the study through at least 6 months after the last dose of protocol therapy.
  • - Childbearing potential defined as not being surgically sterilized (men and women) or have not been free from menses for > 1 year (women only)

    Exclusion Criteria:

    - No EGFR, ALK or ROS1 aberrations.
  • - Brainstem lesion or threatening lesion adjacent to critical structures (i.e. optic nerves/chiasm) - patients can still be enrolled if these are treated and additional lesion(s) based on inclusion criteria above are met.
  • - Has a diagnosis of severe active scleroderma, lupus, other rheumatologic or autoimmune disease within the past 3 months; patients with a documented history of clinically severe autoimmune disease or a syndrome requiring systemic steroids or immunosuppressive agents will not be allowed on this study; subjects with vitiligo or resolved childhood asthma/atopy are an exception to this rule; subjects that require intermittent use of bronchodilators or local steroid injections are not excluded from the study; subjects with hypothyroidism stable on hormone replacement are not excluded from this study.
  • - Has had a prior monoclonal antibody within 4 weeks or 5 half-lives, whichever is shorter, prior to study day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., =< grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier.
  • - Has had prior chemotherapy or targeted small molecule therapy within 3 weeks prior to administration of the study drug or who has not recovered (i.e., =< grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to a previously administered agent; - Note: Subjects with permanent =< grade 2 toxicities (e.g. neuropathy) or toxicities corrected through routine medical management (e.g. thyroid replacement for hypothyroidism), are an exception to this criterion and may qualify for the study; - Note: If subject received major surgery, they must have recovered adequately from the toxicity and/or complications from the intervention prior to starting therapy; *Note: Subjects with =< grade 2 amylase or lipase elevations abnormalities that have no corresponding clinical manifestations (e.g. manifestation of pancreatitis), are an exception to this criterion and may qualify for the study.
  • - Has a known additional malignancy that is progressing or requires active treatment; exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin, squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, indolent lymphomas, or in situ cervical cancer that has undergone potentially curative therapy or any additional tumor that has been deemed to be effectively treated with definitive local control (with or without continued adjuvant hormonal therapy) for at least 2 years prior to enrollment.
  • - Prior whole brain radiation.
  • - Has known carcinomatous meningitis (also known as leptomeningeal disease) - Is taking > 4mg/day of dexamethasone or its equivalent at the start of immunotherapy or has required > 4mg/day of dexamethasone or its equivalent for 3 consecutive days within 1 week of starting treatment.
  • - > 10 brain metastases.
  • - Patients whose tumor exhibit activating EGFR mutation, ALK or ROS translocation and have a standard of care molecular targeted therapy available for these mutations, will be excluded from this study; adenocarcinoma patients may be consented prior to the EGFR and ALK status being known, but EGFR and ALK status must be determined prior to initiating therapy.
  • - Previous CNS surgery within 2 weeks of treatment, with the exception of biopsy.
  • - Unable or unwilling to undergo an intracranial MRI.
- Prospective participants who, in the opinion of the investigator, may not be able to comply with all study procedures (including compliance issues related to feasibility/logistics)

Trial Details

Trial ID:

This trial id was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, providing information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants with locations in all 50 States and in 196 countries.

NCT05840770
Phase

Phase 1: Studies that emphasize safety and how the drug is metabolized and excreted in humans.

Phase 2: Studies that gather preliminary data on effectiveness (whether the drug works in people who have a certain disease or condition) and additional safety data.

Phase 3: Studies that gather more information about safety and effectiveness by studying different populations and different dosages and by using the drug in combination with other drugs.

Phase 4: Studies occurring after FDA has approved a drug for marketing, efficacy, or optimal use.

Phase 2
Lead Sponsor

The sponsor is the organization or person who oversees the clinical study and is responsible for analyzing the study data.

City of Hope Medical Center
Principal Investigator

The person who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the entire clinical study.

Arya Amini
Principal Investigator Affiliation City of Hope Medical Center
Agency Class

Category of organization(s) involved as sponsor (and collaborator) supporting the trial.

Other, NIH
Overall Status Not yet recruiting
Countries United States
Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied.

Metastatic Lung Non-Small Cell Carcinoma, Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm in the Brain, Stage IV Lung Cancer AJCC v8
Additional Details

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

  • I. To evaluate if CNS control rate defined as complete response (CR), partial response (PR), or stable disease (SD), is acceptable with a strategy of cemiplimab alone for patients with advanced NSCLC, PD-L1 >= 50%, no EGFR, ALK or ROS1 aberrations with untreated brain metastases.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
  • I. To evaluate time until intracranial progression with cemiplimab alone.
  • II. To evaluate time to extracranial progression .
  • III. To evaluate overall survival (OS).
  • IV. To evaluate CNS objective response rate (ORR) defined as CR and PR.
  • V. To evaluate time until administration of radiation therapy (RT), either SRS or WBRT.
  • VI. To report longitudinal changes in quality of life with cemiplimab alone.
EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:
  • I. To bank blood and tissue specimens for predictive biomarker analyses evaluating CNS disease control and survival outcomes in patients treated with cemiplimab.
OUTLINE: Patients receive cemiplimab intravenously (IV) and undergo blood sample collection while on study. Patients undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scan and position emission tomography (PET) scan throughout the study.

Arms & Interventions

Arms

Experimental: Treatment (Cemiplimab)

Patients receive cemiplimab IV and undergo blood sample collection while on study. Patients undergo MRI, CT scan and PET scan throughout the study.

Interventions

Procedure: - Biospecimen Collection

Undergo blood sample collection

Biological: - Cemiplimab

Given IV

Procedure: - Computed Tomography

Undergo CT scan

Procedure: - Magnetic Resonance Elastography

Undergo MRI

Procedure: - Positron Emission Tomography

Undergo PET scan

Contact a Trial Team

If you are interested in learning more about this trial, find the trial site nearest to your location and contact the site coordinator via email or phone. We also strongly recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider about the trials that may interest you and refer to our terms of service below.

City of Hope Medical Center, Duarte, California

Status

Address

City of Hope Medical Center

Duarte, California, 91010

Site Contact

Arya Amini

aamini@coh.org

626-218-4589

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