New drug may help keep esophageal cancer at bay after standard treatment
NCT ID NCT07246330
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This Phase 3 trial tests whether the immunotherapy drug toripalimab can help prevent cancer from growing in people with advanced esophageal cancer who have already received chemotherapy and radiation. About 340 participants will be randomly assigned to receive toripalimab or just be observed. The study aims to see if toripalimab improves the time before the cancer progresses.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Toripalimab (a drug that helps the immune system fight cancer)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could provide a new treatment option to delay cancer progression in patients with advanced esophageal cancer.
- What could go wrong
- This is a Phase 3 trial, but results are not yet available. The drug may not improve outcomes for all patients and could cause side effects like immune-related reactions.
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 3
Large-scale testing in a bigger group. Usually the last step before a treatment can be approved.
- Participants
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About 340 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Dec 2025
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2029
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 to 75 years
- 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: 1. Patients voluntarily participate in this study, signed informed consent, good compliance with follow-up; 2. Aged 18-75 years (inclusive), male or female; 3. Clinically staged II-IVa unresectable (AJCC 8th ed.: cT1N2-3M0/cT2-4bN0-3M0) or IVb (supraclavicular lymph node metastasis only); the patient had no disease progression after 2-4 cycles of chemo-immunotherapy induction combined with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). Patients receiving CCRT must meet the following criteria: Patients with inoperable tumors must have received at least 2 cycles of weekly regimen or 1 cycle of 3-week platinum-based chemotherapy combined with radical radiotherapy (50-64 Gy) and have no evidence of radiographic disease progression (according to RECISTv1.1) as compared to before and after radical concurrent chemoradiation; 4. ECOG PS 0-1; 5. Expected survival ≥3 months; 6. Fresh or archived tumor tissue samples within 6 months should be provided for biomarker analysis. The sample type is FFPE tumor tissue block or at least 10 unstained FFPE tumor tissue sections with a thickness of 3-5 μm. For patients who cannot provide tissue samples meeting the above requirements, the investigator should discuss and determine whether to enroll; 7. Adequate organ and bone marrow function defined as: 1. ANC ≥1.5×10⁹/L; 2. Platelets ≥100×10⁹/L; 3. Hemoglobin ≥9g/dL; 4. Serum albumin ≥2.8g/dL; 5. Total bilirubin ≤1.5×ULN; ALT/AST/AKP ≤2.5×ULN; 6. Serum creatinine ≤1.5×ULN or creatinine clearance ≥60mL/min (Cockcroft-Gault); 7. International Normalized Ratio (INR) and Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) ≤ 1.5×ULN \[Patients receiving stable-dose anticoagulant therapy (e.g., low-molecular-weight heparin or warfarin) with an INR within the expected therapeutic range of the anticoagulant are eligible\]; 8. Females of childbearing potential: negative pregnancy test within 72h pre-first dose; contraception during study + 6 months post-last dose. Males with fertile partners: contraception during study + 6 months post-last dose. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Any unresolved NCI CTCAE ≥ grade 2 toxicity following prior chemoradiotherapy. Patients with irreversible and controllable hearing loss are eligible; 2. Small cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, or mixed carcinoma components in histology; 3. Grade ≥ 2 peripheral neuropathy based on NCI CTCAEv5.0 criteria 4. Found to have a higher risk of esophageal fistula by clinical assessment or imaging studies, such as a past history or related symptoms of esophageal fistula, or infiltration of the primary tumor into the great vessels or trachea; 5. Patients with any history of active autoimmune diseases or autoimmune diseases (such as interstitial pneumonia, uveitis, enteritis, hepatitis, hypophysitis, vasculitis, myocarditis, nephritis, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism); patients without any intervention after adults except vitiligo or recovered childhood asthma/allergy; patients with autoimmune-mediated hypothyroidism treated with stable doses of thyroid replacement hormone and type I diabetes treated with stable doses of insulin can be included; 6. History of immunodeficiency, including positive HIV test, or other acquired, congenital immunodeficiency diseases, or history of organ transplantation and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation; 7. Patients with uncontrolled cardiac clinical symptoms or diseases, such as (1) NYHA II and above heart failure (2) unstable angina pectoris (3) myocardial infarction within 1 year (4) clinically significant supraventricular or ventricular arrhythmia requiring clinical intervention; 8. Serious infection (CTCAE \> grade 2) within 4 weeks before the first use of the study drug, such as severe pneumonia requiring hospitalization, bacteremia, infectious complications, etc.; baseline chest imaging showed active pulmonary inflammation, symptoms and signs of infection within 2 weeks before the first use of the study drug need oral or intravenous antibiotics, but excluding the prophylactic use of antibiotics; through the history or CT examination found active pulmonary tuberculosis infection, or within 1 year before enrollment found active pulmonary tuberculosis infection history, or more than 1 year ago had active pulmonary tuberculosis infection history but no regular treatment of patients; 9. Known allergies, hypersensitivity, or contraindications to terdiplimumab or any of the components used in its formulation; 10. Diagnosis of any other malignancy before the first use of study drugs, except for those with a low risk of metastasis and death (5-year survival rate \> 90%), such as adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer or cervical carcinoma in situ; 11. Pregnant or lactating women; fertile subjects are unwilling or unable to take effective contraceptive measures; 12. According to the investigator 's judgment, the patient has other factors that may cause the patient to be forced to terminate the study halfway, such as suffering from other serious diseases (including mental illness) requiring concomitant treatment, and recently combined with other serious diseases (such as myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident) considering the high risk of recurrence, severely abnormal laboratory test values, family or social factors, which may affect the patient' s safety or the collection of trial data.
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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 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.
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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