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The purpose of the research study is to determine if domatinostat in combination with avelumab will be safe and effective in the treatment of metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma in patients who have not received any treatment of their disease

A phase II, open label, multicenter study to investigate the efficacy and safety of domatinostat in combination with avelumab in patients with treatment-naïve metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma - the MERKLIN 1 Study

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
EU CTR
Registry ID
EUCTR2019-003575-19-PL
Enrollment
90
Registered
2021-03-31
Start date
2021-08-18
Completion date
Unknown
Last updated
2021-11-22

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

treatment-naïve metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma MedDRA version: 21.1 Level: LLT Classification code 10064025 Term: Merkel cell carcinoma System Organ Class: 100000004864

Interventions

Sponsors

4SC AG
Lead Sponsor

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Signed written informed consent. 2. Age = 18 years at signature of Informed Consent Form (ICF). 3. Histologically proven MCC. • Confirmation of the diagnosis by immune-histochemistry as per standard at the institution, including (but not limited to) CK20 and TTF-1. • Patients must have metastatic or distally recurrent disease; M1 status must be confirmed at entry. • Patients must not have received any prior systemic treatment for metastatic MCC. Prior treatment in the adjuvant setting (no clinically detectable disease; no metastatic disease) will be allowed, if the end of the treatment occurred at least 6 months prior to study entry, i.e. signing ICF. 4. Fresh biopsy or archival tumor tissue (not older than 3 months) from an unirradiated lesion. 5. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG PS) of 0 to 1 at study entry. 6. Estimated life expectancy of more than 12 weeks. 7. Disease must be measurable with at least one unidimensional measurable lesion by RECIST v1.1 (including skin lesions). 8. Adequate hematological and organ function defined by the following parameters: Adequate hematological function defined by • White blood cell count (WBC) = 3000/µl • Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) = 1500/µl • Lymphocyte count = 500/µl • Hemoglobin (Hb) = 9 g/dl (or > 5.6 mmol/L), may have been transfused • Platelet count = 100.000/µl Adequate hepatic function defined by • Serum total bilirubin = 1.5 x ULN • ALT and/or AST = 1.5 x ULN Adequate renal function defined by • eGFR > 60 ml/min (as per Cockcroft-Gault formula) 9. Highly effective contraception for both male and female subjects if the risk of conception exists. Female patients of childbearing potential must have a negative urine or serum pregnancy test before receiving the first dose of study medication and must comply with contraception methods as requested by the study protocol. Are the trial subjects under 18? no Number of subjects for this age range: F.1.2 Adults (18-64 years) yes F.1.2.1 Number of subjects for this age range 20 F.1.3 Elderly (>=65 years) yes F.1.3.1 Number of subjects for this age range 70

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Participation in another interventional clinical study within the past 30 days (participation in observational studies is permitted) 2. Concurrent treatment with a non-permitted drug. 3. Prior therapy with any histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor or antibody/drug targeting T cell coregulatory proteins (immune checkpoints) such as anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1), anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) or anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) antibody. 4. Concurrent anti-cancer treatment (for example, cytoreductive therapy, radiotherapy, immune therapy, or cytokine therapy except for erythropoietin). Radiotherapy administered to superficial lesions is not allowed if such lesions are considered target lesions in the efficacy evaluation or may influence the efficacy evaluation of the study treatment. 5. Major surgery for any reason, except diagnostic biopsy, within 4 weeks and/or if the subject has not fully recovered from surgery. 6. Concurrent systemic therapy with steroids or other immunosuppressive agents (e.g. methotrexate, azathioprine, interferons, mycophenolate, anti-TNF agents and other), or the use of any investigational drug within 28 days before the start of study treatment. Short-term administration of systemic steroids e.g. for allergic reactions or the management of immune-related adverse events [irAE] while on study is allowed. Also, patients requiring hormone replacement with corticosteroids for adrenal insufficiency are eligible if the steroids are administered only for purpose of hormonal replacement and at doses 480 msec on at least 2 separate and consecutive ECGs at screening or a medical history of long-QT-Syndrome. 8. Patients with active central nervous system (CNS) metastases are excluded and a brain CT/MRI will be required during screening if not performed within 6 weeks prior to the planned start of the study treatment. Subjects with a history of treated CNS metastases (by surgery or radiation therapy) are not eligible unless they have fully recovered from treatment, demonstrated no progression for at least 2 months, and do not require continued steroid therapy. 9. History of or concurrent malignancies, except the malignancy is clinically insignificant, no systemic treatment is or has been required for the last 6 months, and the patient is clinically stable 10. Prior organ transplantation (including allogeneic stem-cell transplantation). 11. Any active gastrointestinal disorder that could interfere with the absorption of domatinostat characterized by malabsorption or inability to swallow tablets as per judgment of the Investigator. 12. Positive testing for HIV or known AIDS or HBV or HCV infection at screening (positive HBV surface antigen or HCV RNA if anti-HCV antibody screening is positive). 13. Active or history of any autoimmune disease (except for patients with vitiligo) or immune-diseases that required treatment with systemic immune modulating drugs. 14. History or current evidence of clinically relevant allergies or hypersensitivity, which includes known or suspected intolerabilities attributed to domatinostat or avelumab or to constituents of the domatinostat tablets or avelumab infusion and known severe hypersensitivity reactions (Grade = 3) to monoclonal antibodies. 15. Persisting toxicity related to prior therapy Gr

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frame
Main Objective: Evaluation of the clinical efficacy of domatinostat in combination with avelumab in treatment-naïve metastatic or distally recurrent MCC patients as determined by the Objective Response Rate (ORR) according to Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1) by independent review.;Secondary Objective: Evaluation of additional parameters for the clinical efficacy of avelumab in combination with domatinostat, correlation of clinical data to biomarker expression, safety profile of the study treatment, Anti-Drug Antibodies (ADAs) to avelumab and pharmacokinetics (PK) of avelumab and domatinostat, Health-related Quality of Life (HrQoL) ;Primary end point(s): Confirmed Objective Response (OR);Timepoint(s) of evaluation of this end point: Confirmed Objective Response (OR) according to RECIST v1.1, determined by independent review. Both Complete Response and Partial Response must be confirmed by a second tumor assessment preferably at the regularly scheduled 6-weeks assessment interval, but no sooner than 4 weeks after the initial diagnosis of CR or PR.

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
Secondary end point(s): • Duration of Response (DOR) according to RECIST v1.1 as determined by independent review. • Durable Response (DR) according to RECIST v1.1, defined as objective response (CR or PR) determined by independent review with duration of at least 6 months. • Overall Survival (OS) time, defined as the time from the first administration of study treatment until death due to any cause determined by the Investigator. • Progression Free Survival (PFS) according to RECIST v1.1, defined as the time from first dosing (Day 1) to the date of PD or death from any cause (whichever comes first) as determined by independent review. • Disease Control (DC) according to RECIST v1.1, defined as the proportion of patients with either an objective response (CR, PR) or stable disease (SD), as determined by independent review. • RECIST v1.1 responses at 6 and 12 months after start of study treatment as determined by independent review. • Safety and tolerability of the study treatment determined by number, frequency, duration and severity of AEs using CTCAE v5.0 classification, physical examination, laboratory tests, vital signs and ECGs. • ORR, DOR, DR, DC and PFS in correlation to biomarker expression. • Anti-drug-antibodies (ADAs) and pharmacokinetics of study treatments. • Changes in EQ-5D-5L and FACT-M scores over the treatment period. ;Timepoint(s) of evaluation of this end point: Efficacy: imaging will be done in study week 7; thereafter the imaging interval will be every 6th week until 12 months, then increase to every 12 weeks. Safety: During the regular study visits safety and tolerability assessments will be done. Physical examination and weighing will be performed at screening and thereafter every second week and at EOS Visit Quality of Life: HrQoL questionnaires will be completed on day 1, week 7 and thereafter 6 weekly as well as at EoS. PK: Blood sampling for PK analysis of avelumab will be performed on Day 1 and weeks 3, 5, 9, 17, 25, 37 and

Countries

France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Contacts

Public ContactClinical Operations

4SC AG

merklin1@4sc.com+49897007630

Outcome results

None listed

Source: EU CTR (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026