Clinical trial NCT02027116: Phase I Trial to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability and Immunogenicity of VGX-6150 for Second-line Therapy of Chronic Hepatitis C Infection
Official title: Multi-center, Open-label, Dose Escalation, Phase I Trial to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability and Immunogenicity of VGX-6150 for Second-line Therapy of Chronic Hepatitis C Infection
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE1
Conditions: Hepatitis C, Chronic
Keywords: chronic hepatitis C
DNA Vaccine
Electroporation
Intramuscular (IM) Injection
Lead sponsor: GeneOne Life Science, Inc.
Sponsor class: INDUSTRY
Collaborators: name: Inovio Pharmaceuticals
First posted: 2014-01-03
Enrollment: 18
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 19
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: To evaluate the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of VGX-6150 as second-line therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Subjects who want to participate in this trial should meet all of the following criteria.

  1. Male or females aged 19 to 65 years
  2. Chronic hepatitis C patients infected with HCV genotype 1a or 1b
  3. Patients who failed\* SOC therapy with PEG-IFN and ribavirin or triple therapy with SOC and DAA agents

     \*Treatment failure is defined by any of the following; A. Partial response (PR) Serum HCV RNA level declined by at least 2 log10 but still detected at treatment week 24 B. Non-response (NR) Serum HCV RNA level not declined by at least 2 log10 at treatment week 12 C. Relapse Serum HCV RNA undetected during treatment but detectable after end of treatment D. Treatment discontinuation due to ADR or other reason
  4. Patients whose deltoid muscles (left or right) are accessible by 12 to 19 mm cannula/ electrode for intramuscular (IM) injection and electroporation (EP)
  5. Patients who can comply with planned schedule of this protocol
  6. Patients who give written informed consent voluntarily

Exclusion Criteria:

* Subjects who meet any of the followings cannot participate in this study.

  1. Liver transplant recipients
  2. Patients having decompensated liver cirrhosis with any history or evidence of ascites, esophageal variceal hemorrhage and/or hepatic encephalopathy
  3. Malignant tumor patients who received radiotherapy or chemotherapy before study participation
  4. Current active infection except hepatitis C that requires medical treatment
  5. Autoimmune disease patients or immunodeficient (immuno-compromised) patients
  6. Patients who received immunomodulators, cytotoxic agents or systemic corticosteroids for chronic disease other than hepatitis C within 2 months before study participation
  7. Patients who received non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) within 10 days before IP administration
  8. Concomitant diseases which is judged to be unacceptable for study participation by investigator (e.g., severe cardiovascular, renal , or psychiatric disease)
  9. Clinically significant abnormal findings in physical examination,laboratory tests, vital signs or ECG at investigator's discretion
  10. Patients with implantable pacemaker
  11. Patients with metal implant in IP administration area or nearby
  12. Positive for HBsAg, or HIV Ab
  13. Previous history of gene therapy
  14. History of allergy or anaphylaxis to any component of IP or other vaccine
  15. Patients who received major surgery within 4 weeks before IP administration
  16. Blood transfusion within 4 weeks before IP administration
  17. Current alcohol or drug abuse
  18. Patients who received other vaccine within 30 days before IP administration
  19. Pregnancy or breast-feeding woman
  20. Women of childbearing potential (WOCBP) or men with partner of WOCBP who are unwilling to use adequate contraception or be abstinent during the trial
  21. Patients who received other investigational products within 30 days before study participation
  22. Patients incapable of participating in this trial by investigator's judgment

Primary outcomes:
measure: Safety and Tolerability
timeFrame: Screening ~ week 36
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Immunogenicity and virologic response
timeFrame: Screening ~ Week 36
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Pusan
country: Korea, Republic of
facility: Pusan National University Hospital
city: Seoul
country: Korea, Republic of
facility: Yonsei University Severance Hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: Severance Hospital
name: Sang Hoon Ahn, M.D, Ph.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Pusan National University Hospital
name: Jeong Heo, M.D, Ph.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Han JW, Sung PS, Hong SH, Lee H, Koh JY, Lee H, White S, Maslow JN, Weiner DB, Park SH, Jeong M, Heo J, Ahn SH, Shin EC. IFNL3-adjuvanted HCV DNA vaccine reduces regulatory T cell frequency and increases virus-specific T cell responses. J Hepatol. 2020 Jul;73(1):72-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2020.02.009. Epub 2020 Feb 21.