Placebo-Controlled Trial of IFx-Hu2.0 Followed By Pembrolizumab In Checkpoint Inhibitor Naïve Participants With Advanced Or Metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma

Recruiting now · Phase 2/Phase 3 · Has a placebo group

Conditions studied: Advanced Or Metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma

In brief

This Phase 2/3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will evaluate the Objective Response Rate (ORR) of IFx-Hu2.0 as an adjunctive therapy to pembrolizumab in adult participants (≥18 years) with advanced or metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma. A total of 118 participants will be randomized to receive either IFx-Hu2.0 or placebo via intralesional injection in a single lesion, followed by pembrolizumab.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT06947928

Run by

TuHURA Biosciences, Inc.

People needed

118

Starts

2025-12-11

Expected to finish

2032-12-30

Last updated by the study team

2026-04-17

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• At least 18 years of age.
• Life expectancy equal to or greater than six months.
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status < 2.
• Must be recurrent and/or unresectable Stage III or Stage IV American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) (8th edition) and have histologically confirmed Merkel cell carcinoma
• Must have at least one injectable lesion equal to or greater than 3 mm.
• Must have measurable disease as defined by RECIST v1.1.
• Participants should be CPI naïve i.e., no prior therapy with CPI including but not limited to Pembrolizumab, avelumab, ipilimumab, nivolumab.
• Tumor tissue from an archival core biopsy or resected site of disease must be provided for biomarker analyses. If archival tissue is not available, then a new biopsy should be performed.
• Adequate hematological, hepatic, and renal function according to laboratory ranges and medical criteria defined within the study protocol.

You may not qualify if…

• Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with protocol requirements.
• Participants with known active brain metastases with the exception of treated brain metastases that have imaging proving stability at least 4 weeks prior to the start of study treatment, no new metastases, and not requiring steroids.
• Participants with recurrent resectable MCC
• Participants with prior systemic chemotherapy
• Pregnant or breastfeeding females and females desiring to become pregnant or breastfeed within the timeframe of this study.
• Active, known, or suspected autoimmune disease. Potential Participants with type I diabetes mellitus, residual hypothyroidism due to autoimmune thyroiditis only requiring hormone replacement, skin disorders (such as vitiligo, psoriasis, or alopecia) not requiring systemic treatment are permitted to enroll. Low-grade autoimmune toxicity is NOT an exclusion under this criterion.
• A condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalent) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of randomization. Inhaled or topical steroids are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease.

Where it is running

• USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center — Los Angeles, California, United States (enrolling)
• University of California San Francisco - Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center — San Francisco, California, United States (enrolling)
• Stanford Health Care - Skin Cancer Program — Stanford, California, United States (enrolling)
• University of Colorado Hospital - Anschutz Cancer Pavilion — Aurora, Colorado, United States (enrolling)
• Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center — Jacksonville, Florida, United States (enrolling)
• Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center — Miami, Florida, United States (enrolling)
• Moffitt Cancer Center — Tampa, Florida, United States (enrolling)
• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — Boston, Massachusetts, United States (enrolling)
• Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center — Rochester, Minnesota, United States (enrolling)
• Hackensack University Medical Center — Hackensack, New Jersey, United States (enrolling)
• Atlantic Health System — Morristown, New Jersey, United States (enrolling)
• East Carolina University — Greenville, North Carolina, United States (enrolling)
• UPMC Hillman Cancer Center — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States (enrolling)
• The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center — Houston, Texas, United States (enrolling)
• Inova Schar Cancer — Fairfax, Virginia, United States (enrolling)
• Virginia Commonwealth University — Richmond, Virginia, United States (enrolling)
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center — Seattle, Washington, United States (enrolling)
• West Virginia University — Morgantown, West Virginia, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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