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Study of Pembrolizumab With or Without Defactinib Following Chemotherapy as a Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Treatment for Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

A Randomized Phase II Study of Pembrolizumab With or Without Defactinib, a Focal Adhesion Kinase Inhibitor Following Chemotherapy as a Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Treatment for Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC)

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03727880
Enrollment
28
Registered
2018-11-01
Start date
2019-06-04
Completion date
2025-01-15
Last updated
2026-02-04

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

Conditions

Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC)

Keywords

Pembrolizumab, Defactinib, Immunotherapy, Anti-PD-1, Antibody, PD-L1, Pancreatic cancer, Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, Adjuvant chemotherapy, PDAC - Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, FAK (focal adhesion kinase) inhibitor, Resectable Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, High Risk Resectable Pancreatic Cancer, Tumor microenvironment, CA 19-9, Surgery, Pancreatectomy

Brief summary

This study will test the effectiveness (anti-tumor activity), safety, and ability to increase the body's immune system to fight pancreatic cancer by combining standard chemotherapy before and after surgery, with study drug PD-1 antibody, pembrolizumab, with and without study drug, focal adhesion kinase inhibitor (FAK), defactinib, in people with "high risk" resectable (surgically removable) pancreatic cancer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if reprograming the tumor microenvironment by targeting FAK following chemotherapy can potentiate anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) antibody.

Interventions

DRUGPembrolizumab

Following standard of care neoadjuvant chemotherapy, subjects will receive two doses of pembrolizumab (200mg) IV 3 weeks apart prior to surgery. After surgery, subjects will receive adjuvant standard of care chemotherapy. Following adjuvant chemotherapy, subjects will receive 8 doses of pembrolizumab (200mg) IV 3 weeks apart.

DRUGDefactinib

Following 2 cycles of standard of care neoadjuvant chemotherapy, subjects will receive 400 mg defactinib twice a day up until 2 days preceding their surgery (approximately 6 weeks) during the immunotherapy cycles with pembrolizumab. After surgery, subjects will receive adjuvant standard of care chemotherapy. Following adjuvant chemotherapy, subjects will receive 400mg defactinib twice a day for 24 weeks.

Sponsors

Lei Zheng
Lead SponsorOTHER
Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
CollaboratorINDUSTRY
Verastem, Inc.
CollaboratorINDUSTRY

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 100 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Age ≥18 years. * Has pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma * Has resectable disease at the time of diagnosis * Has not received any systemic therapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma * Has stage ≤ IIb disease at time of diagnosis and enrollment * Elevated tumor marker, CA (carbohydrate antigen) 19-9 \>200 * ECOG performance status 0 or 1 * Patient must have adequate organ function defined by the study-specified laboratory tests. * Must use acceptable form of birth control while on study. * Ability to understand and willingness to sign a written informed consent document.

Exclusion criteria

Patients who have received any prior chemotherapy, radiotherapy or investigational agents for pancreatic cancer. * Patients who have received prior treatment with anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, anti-PD-L2, anti-CTLA-4, or with an agent directed to another stimulatory or co-inhibitory T-cell receptor (e.g., CTLA-4, OX 40, CD137). * Has received prior therapy with FAK inhibitor. * Woman who are pregnant or breastfeeding. * Have received a live vaccine or live-attenuated vaccine within 30 days prior to study drug. * Is currently or has participated in another investigational study within 4 weeks prior to receiving study drug. * History or current use of immunosuppressive medications within 7 days prior to study medications. * Has a known additional malignancy that is progressing or has required active treatment within the past 2 years or that is expected to require active treatment within two years. * Has active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years. * Has a history of (non-infectious) pneumonitis/interstitial lung disease or current pneumonitis. * Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy. * Infection with HIV or hepatitis B or C. * Patient with uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, uncontrolled infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements. * Known allergy or hypersensitivity to the study drugs. * Received any growth factors including, but not limited to, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), GM-CSF, erythropoietin, within 14 days of study drug administration. * Has history of any organ transplant, including corneal transplants.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Pathologic Complete Response (pCR) Rate4 yearsPercent of subjects with a pathologic complete response (pCR) per the tumor regression grade scores established by the College of American Pathologist: Grade 0= complete response (no viable cancer cells), Grade 1= near complete response (single cells or rare small groups of cancer cells), Grade 2= partial response (residual tumor with evidence of regression), or Grade 3= no response (extensive residual tumor with no evidence of regression).

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Overall Survival (OS)4 yearsNumber of months until death
Disease Free Survival (DFS)4 yearsNumber of months until disease recurrence
Number of Participants Experiencing Study Drug-related Toxicities4 yearsNumber of participants experiencing drug-related adverse events as defined by CTCAE v5.0

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORLei Zheng, MD

The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio

STUDY_CHAIRArsen Osipov, MD

Cedar Sinai

Baseline characteristics

Characteristic
Age, Continuous73.5 Years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 6.62
Race (NIH/OMB)
American Indian or Alaska Native
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Asian
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Black or African American
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
More than one race
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
3 Participants
Race (NIH/OMB)
White
20 Participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
10 participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
6 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
7 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
EG001
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
10 / 146 / 14
other
Total, other adverse events
4 / 143 / 14
serious
Total, serious adverse events
2 / 143 / 14

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 12, 2026