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Tadalafil and Pembrolizumab in Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer

Study Purpose

This study will examine the combination of pembrolizumab and tadalafil for safety and efficacy in advanced head and neck cancer.

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

Selected

Inclusion Criteria:

  • - Patients (at least 18 years of age) must have recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
  • - Presence of measurable disease.
  • - Life expectancy of greater than 12 weeks.
  • - Patients must have normal organ and marrow function.
Selected

Exclusion Criteria:

  • - Prior therapy with an PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor in the recurrent or metastatic setting.
  • - Uncontrolled central nervous system metastases (stable metastases permitted) - Active autoimmune disease.
  • - Chemotherapy ≤28 days prior to first administration of study treatment and/or monoclonal antibody ≤8 weeks prior to first administration of study treatment.
  • - Prior daily use of tadalafil or other long-acting PDE5 inhibitors for one month or greater within 3 months of trial enrollment.
  • - Current use of all other long-acting PDE5 inhibitors.
  • - Known severe hypersensitivity to tadalafil or any of the excipients of this product.
  • - Current treatment with nitrates.
  • - Current systemic treatment with a potent cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) inhibitor such as ketoconazole or ritonavir.
  • - Current treatment with guanylate cyclase (GC) stimulators such as riociguat.
  • - History of hypotension and/or blindness and/or sensorineural hearing loss during prior treatment with tadalafil or other PDE-5 inhibitors.
  • - History of known hereditary degenerative retinal disorders, including retinitis pigmentosa.
  • - Prior history of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
  • - Pregnant or breastfeeding; a negative pregnancy test is required within 14 days of randomization for all women of childbearing potential.
  • - History of stroke within prior 6 months.
  • - History of acute myocardial infarction within prior 3 months, uncontrolled angina, uncontrolled arrhythmia, or uncontrolled congestive heart failure.
  • - Left ventricular outflow obstructions, such as aortic stenosis and idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis.
  • - Angina requiring treatment with long-acting nitrates.
  • - Angina requiring treatment with short-acting nitrates within 90 days of planned tadalafil administration.
  • - Unstable angina within 90 days of visit 1 (Braunwald 1989) - Positive cardiac stress test without documented evidence of subsequent, effective cardiac intervention.
  • - History of any of the following coronary conditions within 90 days of planned tadalafil administration: - Myocardial Infarction.
  • - Coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
  • - Percutaneous coronary intervention (for example, angioplasty or stent placement) - Any evidence of heart disease (NYHA ≥ Class II as defined in Protocol Attachment LVHG.
3) within 6 months of planned tadalafil administration.
  • - Concurrent systemic immunosuppressant therapy (e.g., cyclosporine A, tacrolimus, etc., or chronic administration of >10 mg/day of prednisone or equivalent) - Prior organ transplantation.
  • - Known history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or active infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) or hepatitis B virus (HBV).

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.

NCT03993353
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.

University of California, San Diego
Principal Investigator

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

Joseph Califano
Principal Investigator Affiliation UCSD
Agency Class

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

Other
Overall Status Active, not recruiting
Countries United States
Conditions

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

Head and Neck Cancer, Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Head and Neck Carcinoma, Head and Neck Cancer Stage III, Head and Neck Cancer Stage IV, Head and Neck Cancer Metastatic, Cancer, Cancer of Esophagus, Cancer, Metastatic, Cancer of Head and Neck, Cancer of Mouth, Cancer of Neck
Additional Details

Immune competent animal models of HNSCC demonstrate that combination PDE-5 inhibitor (tadalafil) and PD-1 inhibitor therapy is more effective than either therapy alone based on the concept of targeting multiple immune repressive abnormalities simultaneously (PD-1 checkpoint and myeloid suppressive pathways). This trial will test the hypothesis that combination PD-1 inhibition and PDE-5 inhibition can be safely co-administered, and secondarily test the hypothesis that the combination of both therapies will be more effective than PD-1 inhibition alone in recurrent/metastatic HNSCC.

Arms & Interventions

Arms

Experimental: Tadalafil and Pembrolizumab

Tadalafil for up to 12 months and pembrolizumab for up to 24 months.

Interventions

Drug: - Pembrolizumab

200 mg intravenously every 3 weeks

Drug: - Tadalafil

10 mg by mouth daily

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.

UCSD Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, California

Status

Address

UCSD Moores Cancer Center

La Jolla, California, 92093

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