Clinical trial NCT06794775: SWE-NEO: Swedish NeoAdjuvant Trial Comparing Monotherapy to Combined Immunotherapy in Resectable Stage III Melanoma
Official title: SWE-NEO: Swedish NeoAdjuvant Trial Comparing Anti-PD-1 Monotherapy to Combined Anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD-1 Blockade in Resectable Stage III Melanoma
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: PHASE3
Conditions: Malignant Melanoma Stage III
Keywords: Immune checkpoint inhibitors
Nivolumab
Ipilimumab
Neoadjuvant
anti-PD-1
anti-CTLA-4
Lead sponsor: Karolinska University Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2025-01-27
Enrollment: 128
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: At present two studies (SWOG S1801 and NADINA) have demonstrated superiority when using neoadjuvant treatment compared to adjuvant treatment only, but no studies have compared PD-1 monotherapy (SWOG 1801 regimen) to the PD-1/CTLA-4 combination (NADINA regimen) therapy. The SWE-NEO study aims to compare these two regimens, where the PD-1/CTLA-4 combination is potentially more effective, but also associated with more side effects.

Detailed description: A phase III randomized controlled multicenter open-label trial. Patients will be randomized after a diagnosis of resectable stage III melanoma to have either two courses of CTLA-4 and PD-1 inhibitor combination therapy or PD-1 inhibitor monotherapy, before the pre-planned operation. In both arms, adjuvant treatment with a PD-1 inhibitor or with BRAF+MEK inhibitors in patients with a BRAF V600E mutation, will be given only to patients with no major pathological response in the operated tumor, with PD-1 inhibitor, or with BRAF+MEK inhibitors in patients with BRAF V600E mutation. Active follow-up will be performed for 3 years from surgery and followed for survival up until 10 years. Sequential blood and tumor samples will be collected for biomarker analyses.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Participants must be at least 18 years of age.
2. Can provide a signed informed consent as described in the protocol, including compliance with the requirements and restrictions listed in the ICF and in this protocol.
3. World Health Organization (WHO) Performance Status 0 or 1.
4. Patients must have

   1. Histologically or cytologically confirmed Stage III melanoma. In the case of in-transit metastases (with or without lymph node metastases)' ≤3 resectable in-transit metastases are allowed.
   2. Patients with cutaneous, acral, or unknown primary melanomas are eligible for enrollment.
   3. Resectable tumors are defined as having no significant vascular, neural or bony involvement. Only patients where a complete surgical resection with tumor-free margins can safely be achieved are defined as resectable.
5. Female patient of childbearing potential should have a negative urine or serum pregnancy test within 72 hours prior to receiving the first treatment. If the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required.
6. Female patients of childbearing potential must be willing to use a highly effective method of contraception, for the course of the study through 150 days after the last dose of study medication. Note: Abstinence is acceptable if this is the usual lifestyle and preferred contraception for the subject. Highly effective methods of contraception include one or more of the following:

   1. male partner who is sterile (vasectomised) prior to the female study subject's entry into the study and is the sole sexual partner for the female subject;
   2. hormonal (oral, intravaginal, transdermal, implantable or injectable)
   3. an intrauterine hormone-releasing system (IUS)
   4. an intrauterine device (IUD) with a documented failure rate of \< 1%.
7. Male patients of childbearing potential must agree to use an adequate method of contraception, starting with the first dose of study therapy through 150 days after the last dose of study therapy. Abstinence is acceptable if this is the usual lifestyle and preferred contraception for the subject. A unique female sexual partner must postmenopausal, permanently sterilized (e.g. hysterectomy or tubal ligation), or use a highly effective method of contraception.
8. No other malignancies, except if treated with curative intent and with a cancer-related life expectancy of more than 5 years.
9. No prior immunotherapy targeting CTLA-4, PD-1 or PD-L1.
10. No prior targeted therapy targeting BRAF and/or MEK.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Unresectable melanoma
2. Uveal/ocular or mucosal melanoma
3. Any serious or uncontrolled medical conditions that, in the investigator's opinion, may increase the risk associated with study participation or study drug administration, impair the ability of the subject to receive protocol therapy, or interfere with the interpretation of study results .
4. Subjects with a condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (\> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents) or other immunosuppressive medications within 14 days of study drug administration. Inhaled or topical steroids and adrenal replacement doses \> 10 mg daily prednisone equivalents are permitted in the absence of active autoimmune disease.
5. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
6. Any condition that potentially hamper compliance with the study protocol and follow-up schedule; those conditions should be discussed with the subject before registration in the trial.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Event-free survival (EFS)
timeFrame: From date of randomization until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 60 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Relapse-free survival (RFS)
timeFrame: From date of surgery until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 60 months
measure: Distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS)
timeFrame: From date of randomization until the date of first documented distant metastasis or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 60 months
measure: Overall survival (OS)
timeFrame: From date of randomization until the date of death from any cause, assessed up to 60 months
measure: Major pathological response (MPR)
timeFrame: Start of neoadjuvant therapy to end of neoadjuvant therapy, up to approximately two months
measure: Correlation of pathologic response to RFS, DMFS, and OS
timeFrame: From end of neoadjuvant therapy until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 60 months
measure: Correlation of response to RFS, DMFS, and OS
timeFrame: From end of neoadjuvant therapy until the date of first documented progression or date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 60 months
measure: Proportion of patients having surgery according to plan
timeFrame: From start of neoadjuvant therapy to date of surgery, assessed up to 6 months
measure: Surgical complication rates
timeFrame: From surgery to date of any postoperative complication, assessed up to 3 months post surgery
measure: Frequency of treatment-related adverse events (AEs)
timeFrame: From start of neoadjuvant therapy up to 1 year after last treatment
Other outcomes:
measure: Correlation of different biological markers with treatment efficacy and safety
timeFrame: From start of neoadjuvant therapy to last blood/tumour sample taken, until the date of first documented progression, assessed up to 60 months
Locations:
city: Gothenburg
country: Sweden
facility: Sahlgrenska University Hospital
city: Lund
country: Sweden
facility: Skane University Hospital
city: Stockholm
country: Sweden
facility: Karolinska University Hospital
Study officials:
References: