New triple-threat approach targets deadly mesothelioma in early trial
NCT ID NCT03760575
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This early-phase trial tests whether adding the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab and a special imaging technique during surgery can improve treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive lung cancer. About 20 adults with measurable disease will receive the combination. The main goal is to check safety and side effects, with secondary goals of seeing how long the cancer stays controlled and overall survival.
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 1
The first testing in people. Mainly checks safety and dose, usually in a small group.
- Participants
-
About 20 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
-
Jan 2023
- Expected to finish
-
Feb 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: * Be willing and able to provide written informed consent for the trial. * Be 18 years of age on day of signing informed consent. * Have measurable disease based on RECIST 1.1. * Be willing to provide tissue from a newly obtained core or excisional biopsy of a tumor lesion. Newly-obtained is defined as a specimen obtained up to 6 weeks (42 days) prior to initiation of treatment on Day 1. Subjects for whom newly-obtained samples cannot be provided (e.g. inaccessible or subject safety concern) may submit an archived specimen only upon agreement from the Sponsor. * Have a performance status of 0 or 1 on the ECOG Performance Scale. * Demonstrate adequate organ function, all screening labs should be performed within 10 days of treatment initiation. * Female subject of childbearing potential should have a negative urine or serum pregnancy within 72 hours prior to receiving the first dose of study medication. If the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required. * Female subjects of childbearing potential must be willing to use an adequate method of contraception for the course of the study through 120 days after the last dose of study medication. Note: Abstinence is acceptable if this is the usual lifestyle and preferred contraception for the subject. * Male subjects of childbearing potential must agree to use an adequate method of contraception starting with the first dose of study therapy through 120 days after the last dose of study therapy. Note: Abstinence is acceptable if this is the usual lifestyle and preferred contraception for the subject. Exclusion Criteria: * Is currently participating and receiving study therapy or has participated in a study of an investigational agent and received study therapy or used an investigational device within 4 weeks of the first dose of treatment. * Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or is receiving any form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment OR Is taking chronic systemic steroids (in doses exceeding 10 mg daily of prednisone equivalent) within 7 days prior to the first dose of trial treatment. (Note: Subjects with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that require intermittent use of bronchodilators, inhaled steroids, or local steroid injections would not be excluded from the study.) * Has a known history of active TB (Bacillus Tuberculosis) * Hypersensitivity to ICG or pembrolizumab or any of their excipients. * Has had a prior anti-cancer monoclonal antibody (mAb) within 4 weeks prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier. * Has had prior chemotherapy, targeted small molecule therapy, or radiation therapy within 2 weeks prior to study Day 1 or who has not recovered (i.e., ≤ Grade 1 or at baseline) from adverse events due to a previously administered agent. Note: Subjects with ≤ Grade 2 neuropathy are an exception to this criterion and may qualify for the study. Note: If subject received major surgery, they must have recovered adequately from the toxicity and/or complications from the intervention prior to starting therapy. * Has a known additional malignancy that is progressing or requires active treatment. Exceptions include basal cell carcinoma of the skin or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin that has undergone potentially curative therapy or in situ cervical cancer. * Has known metastatic disease and/or disease that is otherwise determined to be unresectable. * Has active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e. with use of disease modifying agents, corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs). Replacement therapy (eg., thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is not considered a form of systemic treatment. * Has a history of (non-infectious) pneumonitis that required steroids or current pneumonitis. * Evidence of interstitial lung disease. * Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy. * Has a 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. * Has known psychiatric or substance abuse disorders that would interfere with cooperation with the requirements of the trial. * Is pregnant or breastfeeding, or expecting to conceive or father children within the projected duration of the trial, starting with the pre-screening or screening visit through 120 days after the last dose of trial treatment. * Has received prior therapy with an anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1, or anti-PD-L2 agent. * Has a known history of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (HIV 1/2 antibodies). * Has known active Hepatitis B (e.g., HBsAg reactive) or Hepatitis C (e.g., HCV RNA \[qualitative\] is detected). * Has received a live vaccine within 30 days of planned start of study therapy. Note: Seasonal influenza vaccines for injection are generally inactivated flu vaccines and are allowed; however intranasal influenza vaccines (e.g., Flu-Mist®) are live attenuated vaccines, and are not allowed
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Mesotheliomas pleural 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
-
Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
RECRUITINGPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can a Chest-Injected drug drain Cancer's fluid trap?
- Engineered immune cells take aim at Mesothelin-Positive tumors
- Promising drug targets tough mesothelioma in early trial
- Surgery for 'unremovable' mesothelioma? new study tests symptom relief
- Scientists dive deep into mesothelioma tumors to unlock new treatment clues
- New combo therapy targets hard-to-treat mesothelioma