New hope for deadly thyroid cancer? drug combo tested before surgery
NCT ID NCT06902376
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Sep 09, 2026 · Updated 2 times
Summary
This early-phase trial is testing whether giving a combination of two drugs (XL092 and cemiplimab) before surgery can help people with a rare and fast-growing thyroid cancer called anaplastic thyroid cancer. The study will enroll 12 participants to see if the treatment is safe and helps surgeons remove the tumor completely. The goal is to better control this difficult-to-treat cancer.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- XL092 (a drug) and cemiplimab (an immunotherapy)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this combination could make surgery more effective for a very aggressive thyroid cancer, potentially improving survival.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very early, small phase 1 trial with only 12 participants. The drugs may cause significant side effects, and it is unknown if they will improve outcomes.
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 1
The first testing in people. Mainly checks safety and dose, usually in a small group.
- Participants
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About 12 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jun 2025
- Expected to finish
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Aug 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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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
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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: * Written informed consent was obtained to participate in the study and HIPAA authorization for the release of personal health information. * Subjects are willing and able to comply with study procedures based on the judgment of the investigator. * Age ≥ 18 years at the time of consent. * the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status of 0-2. * Pathologic findings supporting the clinical impression of anaplastic thyroid cancer. Terminology consistent or suggestive of diagnosis may include the following: anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, undifferentiated carcinoma, squamous carcinoma; carcinoma with spindled, giant cell, or epithelial features; poorly differentiated carcinoma with pleomorphism, extensive necrosis with tumor cells present. * Subject is willing to have a fresh biopsy at least 3 days prior to neoadjuvant therapy if archival tissue is unavailable. Also willing to have a biopsy at the time of SOC surgery, if applicable. * Must have BRAF V600E mutation-negative tumor, as determined by BRAF V600E immunohistochemistry on tumor tissue or genetic/molecular testing of the tumor. Exclusion Criteria: * Pregnant or breastfeeding (Note: breast milk cannot be stored for future use while the mother is being treated on the study). Females should not breastfeed while receiving study treatment and for 1 month from the last dose of XL092. * Patients who have had prior exposure to any immune modulating agents or any type of small molecule kinase inhibitor (including investigational agents) and have documented disease progression on these agents will not be eligible. * Ongoing or recent (within 5 years) evidence of significant autoimmune disease that required treatment with systemic immunosuppressive treatments (i.e., with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids (\>10 mg of prednisone or equivalent) or immunosuppressive drugs) which may suggest risk of immune-mediated Adverse Events. * Replacement therapy (e.g.: thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered a form of systemic treatment. The following are not exclusionary: vitiligo, childhood asthma that has resolved, type 1 diabetes, residual hypothyroidism that required only hormone replacement, or psoriasis that does not require systemic treatment. * Subject history of documented allergic reactions or acute hypersensitivity reactions attributed to antibody treatments. * Subject is receiving prohibited medications or treatments as listed in the protocol that cannot be discontinued/replaced by an alternative therapy within 7 days of initiating treatment. * Participation in another clinical study with an investigational product during the last 3 weeks.
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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.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
2 sites. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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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
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Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGBoston, Massachusetts, 02215, United States
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
RECRUITINGChapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Light-Based probe aims to spot thyroid cancer faster
- Mapping how thyroid tumors spread and what surgery leaves behind
- Antibody-Drug conjugate targets TROP-2 in Hard-to-Treat thyroid cancers
- Can a video keep thyroid cancer patients on track after surgery?
- Can doctors safely watch small thyroid cancers instead of removing them?
- Can heat replace the scalpel for small thyroid tumors?