New radioactive drug targets Hard-to-Treat liver cancer
NCT ID NCT06852820
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This pilot study tests a radioactive drug called 177Lu-PSMA-617 in 10 patients with PSMA-positive liver cancer that has spread. The goal is to see if the drug is safe and can shrink tumors. Patients must have already tried one prior treatment.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- 177Lu-PSMA-617 (a radioactive drug)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could point toward a new treatment option for patients with PSMA-positive liver cancer that has spread.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small pilot study (10 people) in early Phase 2, so results may not apply broadly. The drug is radioactive and may cause 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
-
Phase 2
Tests whether the treatment actually works, and watches for side effects, in a larger group.
- Participants
-
About 10 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
-
Jun 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
-
Apr 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 years and older
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
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: * Participants must have histologically, cytologically or radiographically confirmed hepatocellular carcinoma by LI-RADS30 with metastatic and/or unresectable disease. * Participants must have received one prior line of systemic therapy for the treatment of metastatic and/or unresectable HCC including anti-PD-L1 therapy. Participants will be enrolled at the time of progression on first-line therapy for metastatic and/or unresectable disease. * Age \>18 years. Because no dosing or adverse event data are currently available on the use of 177Lu-PSMA-617 (Lu-177 vipivotide tetraxetan) in participants \<18 years of age, children are excluded from this study. * ECOG performance status 0 or 1. * Participants must have normal organ and marrow function as defined below: Absolute Neutrophil Count ≥ 1,500/mcL. Hemoglobin \> 9 g/dL. Platelet count ≥ 75,000/mcL. Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal or CrCl ≥60 mL/min using the Cockroft-Gault formula for participants with creatinine levels \>1.5 ULN. Child-Pugh class A or B7. * At least one target lesion measurable by RECIST 1.1 criteria. * PSMA-PET demonstrating PSMA PET positive lesion (higher uptake in the tumor compared with background liver uptake). * Participants must have the ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document. * Participants of childbearing age are using an appropriate method of contraception. Exclusion Criteria: * Participants receiving any other investigational agents. * Subject has received investigational therapy within 4 weeks or within 5 half-lives of the therapeutic agent (whichever is shorter). * Ongoing grade 3 or higher toxicity from prior anticancer systemic therapy. * Prior treatment with Y90 radioembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma. * Participants who have undergone major surgery within 3 months of screening and have not adequately recovered. * Known additional malignancy that currently requires active treatment. Exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin, squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, or in situ cervical cancer that has undergone potentially curative therapy. * Participants with untreated brain metastases and/or carcinomatous meningitis will be excluded from this clinical trial because of their poor prognosis and because they often develop progressive neurologic dysfunction that would confound the evaluation of neurologic and other adverse events. Participants with previously treated brain metastases may participate provided they are stable without evidence of new or enlarging brain metastases and are not using steroids for at least 7 days prior to trial treatment. * Participants with uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements. History or current evidence of any condition, therapy, or laboratory abnormality that might confound the results of the trial, interfere with the subject's participation for the full duration of the trial, or is not in the best interest of the subject to participate, in the opinion of the treating investigator. * Participants with known psychiatric or substance use disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial, in the opinion of the treating investigator. * Subject is pregnant or breastfeeding or expecting to conceive or father children within the projected duration of the trial, starting with the screening visit through 7 months for females and 14 weeks for males after the last dose of trial treatment. Pregnant or breastfeeding women are excluded from this study because 177Lu-PSMA-617 has not been previously studied in this population and the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects are unknown. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to the treatment of the mother with 177Lu-PSMA-617, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with 177Lu-PSMA-617. These potential risks may also apply to 68Ga-PSMA-11 used in this study. * Subject has received live vaccine within 30 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment. * Subject with recent variceal bleeding, gastrointestinal bleeding or high risk of bleeding.
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Hepatocellular carcinoma are added.
Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
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.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
-
The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
-
The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
-
A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Seidman Cancer Center
RECRUITINGCleveland, Ohio, 44106, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- New antibody drug conjugate tested against advanced cancers
- Sparing the liver: targeted chemoembolization meets lenvatinib in liver cancer
- AI-Enhanced ultrasound aims to catch liver cancer earlier
- Can turbocharged immune cells stop liver cancer from coming back?
- Two blood markers put to the test for early liver cancer detection
- New antibody pair takes aim at advanced liver cancer in major trial