Could immunotherapy before surgery spare facial features in skin cancer?
NCT ID NCT05929664
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This phase 2 trial is testing whether giving immunotherapy drugs (cemiplimab alone or with fianlimab) before surgery can shrink advanced basal cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The goal is to make surgery less extensive, preserving important structures like the eye, nose, or lip. About 70 participants will receive up to 6 infusions before their operation, and researchers will measure tumor shrinkage and surgical benefits.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Cemiplimab (Libtayo) and Fianlimab
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could offer a way to shrink head and neck skin cancers before surgery, potentially allowing less extensive surgery and preserving facial features.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-phase trial that is currently suspended, so results are uncertain. The drugs may cause immune-related side effects, and not all patients may respond.
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
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About 70 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jul 2023
- Expected to finish
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Jul 2031
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: -Individuals must meet all of the following inclusion criteria in order to be eligible to participate in the study: 1. Pathologically confirmed, locally-advanced BCC of the head and neck of any stage which is not resectable without major morbidity or unresectable, defined as requiring greater than 30% auriculectomy, rhinectomy, upper or lower lip resection, orbital exenteration (due to lid or orbital involvement), facial nerve sacrifice, or any Brigham and Women's stage 2b or 3 disease of head and neck (see Table 5). 2. Male or female, aged ≥18 years of age 3. Performance status 0-1. 4. Must have a life expectancy of at least 6 months as judged by the treating physician. 5. Adequate organ function: 1. Absolute neutrophil count 1500/μl or more; 2. Platelets 100,000/μl or more, 3. Hemoglobin 9 g/dl or more; 4. Bilirubin less than or equal to 1.5 x the upper limit of normal (except subjects with Gilbert syndrome, who can have total bilirubin \<3 mg/dl); 5. AST and ALT less than or equal to 2.5 x the upper limit of normal, 6. GFR greater than or equal to 40 ml/min using the Cockcroft-Gault formula or measured creatinine clearance using 24 hours urine collection 6. Women of reproductive potential should have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test (minimum sensitivity 25 IU/L or equivalent units of HCG), which must also be confirmed as negative within 28 days of the start of study drugs. 7. Women of reproductive potential must use highly effective contraception methods to avoid pregnancy for 120 days after the last dose of study drugs. "Women of reproductive potential" is defined as any female who has experienced menarche and who has not undergone surgical sterilization (hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy) or who is not postmenopausal. Menopause is defined clinically as 12 months of amenorrhea in a woman over 45 in the absence of other biological or physiological causes. In addition, women under the age of 55 must have a documented serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level less than 40 mIU/mL. 8. Men of reproductive potential who are sexually active with women of reproductive potential must use any contraceptive method with a failure rate of less than 1% per year. Men who are receiving the study medications will be instructed to adhere to contraception for 120 days after the last dose of study drugs. Men who are azoospermic do not require contraception. 9. Informed Consent: All subjects must be able to comprehend and sign a written informed consent document. Exclusion Criteria: An individual who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study: 1. Prior radiation therapy within the past 6 months for this target cancer documented by surgeon at Visit 1, Day 0 initial assessment. (Prior surgical resection to area/tumor is acceptable.) 2. Any history of allergy to the study drug components. 3. Any concurrent malignancies: exceptions include- basal cell carcinoma of the skin at another site, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, melanoma in situ, squamous cell carcinoma of the skin of a secondary location, superficial bladder cancer or in situ cervical cancer that has undergone potentially curative therapy. Patients with a history of other prior malignancy must have been treated with curative intent and must have remained disease-free for 2 years post-diagnosis. 4. Any unresolved toxicity NCI CTCAE v 5.0 Grade ≥2 from previous anticancer therapy with the exception of alopecia, vitiligo, and the laboratory values defined in the inclusion criteria. Patients with Grade ≥2 neuropathy will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis after consultation with the Study Physician. Patients with irreversible toxicity not reasonably expected to be exacerbated by treatment with anti-PD1 therapy may be included only after consultation with the Study Physician. 5. Any Subjects with a condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (\> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 28 days of study drug administration., or a prior history of allogenic organ transplantation. 6. Any diagnosis of a significant connective tissue disorder as determined by the treating surgeon or medical team. 7. Patients must not be receiving any other investigational agents. 8. Receipt of a live attenuated vaccine within 30 days prior to the first dose of drug on trial. 9. Uncontrolled intercurrent illness, including but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, uncontrolled hypertension, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, interstitial lung disease, serious chronic gastrointestinal conditions associated with diarrhea, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirement, substantially increase risk of incurring AEs or compromise the ability of the patient to give written informed consent. 10. Patients must not be pregnant or breastfeeding. 11. Active infection including tuberculosis (clinical evaluation that includes clinical history, physical examination and radiographic findings, and TB testing in line with local practice), hepatitis B (known positive HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) result), hepatitis C, or human immunodeficiency virus (positive HIV 1/2 antibodies). Patients with a past or resolved HBV infection (defined as the presence of hepatitis B core antibody \[anti-HBc\]and absence of HBsAg) are eligible. Patients positive for hepatitis C (HCV)antibody are eligible only if polymerase chain reaction is negative for HCVRNA. 12. Any patient with prior immunotherapy or HHI for malignancy treatment. 13. Any untreated metastasis(es) to the brain that may be considered active. 14. History of pneumonitis with the past 5 years.
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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
3 sites. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
The full official record for this study. This one lists no contact details, but it is the first place any would appear.
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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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Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19107, United States
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University of Miami Health System
Miami, Florida, 33136, United States
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Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee, 37232, United States
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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