New combo shows promise against tough skin cancer
NCT ID NCT05309421
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 26, 2026
Summary
This phase 2 trial tests whether adding an experimental drug (EVX-01) to standard immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) can shrink tumors better than pembrolizumab alone in people with advanced melanoma that cannot be removed by surgery. Seventeen adults who have never received checkpoint inhibitors are being treated and followed for up to two years. The main goal is to see if the combination improves the overall response rate compared to historical data.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- EVX-01 (investigational drug) plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this combination could improve tumor shrinkage and delay cancer progression in people with advanced melanoma who haven't had checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-phase trial with only 17 participants and no comparison group. Results may not apply to all patients, and the combination could cause added side effects.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 2
Tests whether the treatment actually works, and watches for side effects, in a larger group.
- Participants
-
17 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Sep 2022
- Expected to finish
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Mar 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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A company
The lead sponsor is a pharmaceutical, biotech, or medical-device company.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Be at least 18 years of age on day of signing informed consent. * Histologically confirmed, and not amenable to local therapy, metastatic or unresectable melanoma Stage III or Stage IV, as per AJCC 8th ed. staging system. 1. Patient may not have a diagnosis of uveal or ocular melanoma. 2. Patients must be treatment naïve to checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) therapy 3. Patients must have testing for a BRAF mutation prior to study entry. Note: Patients with BRAF V600E mutant melanoma may have received prior BRAF inhibitor therapy as first-line systemic therapy and be eligible for this study as second line treatment. At the discretion of the investigator, patients with BRAF V600E mutant melanoma who have NOT received a BRAF inhibitor are also eligible for this study as first line treatment if they meet the following additional criteria: i. LDH \< local ULN, ii. No clinically significant tumor related symptoms in the judgment of the investigator, and iii. Absence of rapidly progressing metastatic melanoma in the judgment of the investigator * Have measurable disease per RECIST 1.1 as assessed by the local site investigator within 4 weeks prior to the first visit. Lesions situated in a previously irradiated area are considered measurable if progression has been demonstrated in such lesions. * Patients must be willing and able to provide fresh or frozen tumor tissue from an unresectable or metastatic site of disease for neoepitope and biomarker analyses. If a sufficient amount of tumor tissue from an unresectable or metastatic site is not available prior to the start of the screening phase, subjects must consent to allow the acquisition of additional tumor tissue. In addition, participants may provide additional biopsy at the time of discontinuation due to progression. * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1. Exclusion Criteria: * Has received prior therapy with an anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, or anti PD L2 agent or with an agent directed to another stimulatory or co-inhibitory T-cell receptor (e.g., CTLA-4, OX 40, CD137). * Has received prior systemic anti-cancer therapy including investigational agents within 4 weeks prior to treatment. * Has received prior radiotherapy within 2 weeks of start of study treatment. Participants must have recovered from all radiation-related toxicities, not require corticosteroids, and not have had radiation pneumonitis. A 1-week washout is permitted for palliative radiation (≤2 weeks of radiotherapy) to non-CNS disease. * Has received a live or live-attenuated vaccine within 30 days prior to the first dose of study intervention. Note: Administration of killed vaccines are allowed.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Divisione di Oncologia Medica del Melanoma
Milan, Italy
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Instituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione
Naples, Italy
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Melanoma Institute Australia
Wollstonecraft, New South Wales, 2065, Australia
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One Clinical Research
Nedlands, Western Australia, 6009, Australia
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Real-World melanoma care under the microscope
- Can injecting immune drugs directly into tumors revive response to checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma?
- Can a short Pre-Surgery immunotherapy course replace Long-Term adjuvant treatment for melanoma?
- Engineered immune cells take aim at Hard-to-Treat cancers
- Gene-Hacked immune cells take on tough cancers
- Pee power: urine bacteria may predict melanoma treatment success