RecruitingPhase 1

Study of Safety and Tolerability of BCA101 Monotherapy and in Combination Therapy in Patients With EGFR-driven Advanced Solid Tumors

First-in-Human, Phase 1/1b, Open-label, Multicenter Study of Bifunctional EGFR/TGFβ Fusion Protein BCA101 Monotherapy and in Combination Therapy in Patients With EGFR-Driven Advanced Solid Tumors

Who can join

As published by the study on ClinicalTrials.gov. "Not stated" means the study hasn't said — ask the study team.

Age
18 Years and older
Sex
All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Not accepted
Compensation
Not stated

Other requirements are listed under Eligibility below. Only the study team can confirm whether you can join.

What to expect

No one can promise a trial will help you personally — that is what the research is trying to find out.

What participation involves

Not stated in the study description — ask the study team about visits and procedures.

Compensation
Not stated
  • Study-related exams and procedures are typically provided at no cost. This is how many trials work in general — confirm the details for this study with the study team.
  • Participants are monitored closely by the research team throughout the study.
  • Some participants may receive access to an investigational treatment, which is still being studied.
  • Your participation helps researchers learn whether this approach could help future patients.

About this study

In plain language

This study tests the safety of BCA101, also called ficerafusp alfa, alone or with pembrolizumab. BCA101 targets two proteins, EGFR and TGFβ. The study is for people with certain advanced solid tumors driven by EGFR.

The investigational drug to be studied in this protocol, BCA101, is a first-in-class compound that targets both EGFR with TGFβ. Based on preclinical data, this bifunctional antibody may exert synergistic activity in patients with EGFR-driven tumors.

Compensation is read from the study's own description and may be missing — always confirm with the study team.

Eligibility

Who can join

  • You must have a tumor that can be measured and sampled. You must agree to tumor samples (biopsies) before and during treatment and provide stored tumor tissue if available.
  • You must be fully active or able to do light work, with only limits on hard physical activity.
  • Skin squamous cell cancer group: You must have had anti-PD-1 treatment, which helps the immune system fight cancer, or been unable to take it. You must not have had anti-EGFR antibodies for cancer that spread or could not be removed by surgery.
  • Head and neck cancer group with a PD-L1 score of 1 or higher: Cancer must have spread or returned and cannot be removed by surgery. It must start in certain mouth or throat areas, not behind the nose. Prior drug and immune treatments are restricted, with some exceptions. Tumor tissue is needed for PD-L1 testing. Cancer in the middle throat also needs HPV test results.
  • Anal canal squamous cell cancer group: Cancer must be advanced, unable to be removed by surgery, or have spread. You must have had chemotherapy or been unable to take it, and no more than two drug treatment courses for advanced cancer. No prior immune checkpoint drugs are allowed.
  • Squamous non-small cell lung cancer group: You must have stage 4 cancer, with no mixed cancer types. Cancer must have worsened after one prior drug treatment for cancer that spread. No prior anti-EGFR antibodies for cancer that spread are allowed.
  • Other head and neck cancer group: Cancer must have spread or returned and cannot be removed by surgery. The required PD-L1 test score must be below 1.
  • Colorectal cancer group: You must have had two or three prior drug treatment courses, including two standard treatment plans. You will be assigned by chance to ficerafusp alfa alone or with pembrolizumab.

Who can't join

  • For Part A, you cannot have had anti-EGFR antibodies within four weeks before the first study dose.
  • You cannot have had treatment targeting TGFβ.
  • You cannot have had a moderate or worse reaction to cetuximab, other anti-EGFR treatment, or mouse proteins, or stopped treatment because of harmful side effects.
  • You cannot be pregnant or breastfeeding.
  • You cannot need drugs that weaken the immune system within 14 days before treatment, including more than 10 mg of prednisone daily or a similar steroid dose. Steroids used on the skin, in the nose, in the airways, or in the eyes are allowed.
  • Other blood or solid cancers may exclude you unless treated with a possible cure and absent for two years. Some very low-risk cancers are allowed. People in the skin cancer group may have chronic lymphocytic leukemia if it does not need active treatment.
  • If you have HIV, your CD4 immune cell count must be at least 250 cells/uL. You must have taken HIV treatment for at least four weeks and have an HIV level below 400 copies/mL.
  • You cannot have active chronic hepatitis B that needs treatment unless you are taking medicine to control it. If you have had hepatitis C, you must have finished treatment to cure it and have no virus level high enough to measure.

Simplified for readability. The official criteria below are what the study team uses.

Official eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria: * Patient must have measurable disease amendable to biopsy and be willing to undergo both a pre-treatment and on-treatment biopsy, as well as provide archival tumor if available from the primary tumor (a paraffin embedded tumor tissue block sufficient to obtain at least 10 sections of 4 to 5 micrometer thickness). * Patient must have a performance status of ≤1 on the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Scale. * Patients must have evaluable or measurable disease (computed tomography \[CT\]/magnetic resonance imaging \[MRI\] scans performed within 21 days before the screening visit are acceptable) demonstrating measurable disease, i.e., at least 1 unidimensional measurable lesion as defined by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, Version 1.1 (RECIST 1.1) and Immune Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (iRECIST). * Tumor eligibility: PART B (Cohort expansion): 1. Single agent BCA101 - patients with the following tumor type will be eligible: • Expansion Cohort 1: Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma (CSCC) - i. patients must have received (or been intolerant to or ineligible for) prior anti-PD-1 therapy in the metastatic or locally advanced setting. ii. No prior history of treatment with anti-EGFR antibodies in the unresectable/metastatic setting (prior treatment with radiotherapy in the adjuvant setting is allowed). 2. Combination BCA101 and pembrolizumab - patients with the following tumor types will be eligible: • Expansion Cohort 2: Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), metastatic or unresectable, recurrent with a Combined Positive Score (CPS) equal to or greater than 1, as determined by an CLIA-approved laboratory test. Primary tumor locations of oropharynx, oral cavity, hypopharynx, or larynx. Participants may not have a primary tumor site of nasopharynx (any histology). i. Patients must have no prior systemic therapy administered in the recurrent or metastatic setting (with the exception of systemic therapy completed \>6 months prior if given as part of multimodal treatment for locally advanced disease) or prior history of immune checkpoint inhibitors with the exception of neoadjuvant therapy (\>6 months prior to study drug initiation). No prior history of anti-EGFR antibodies (with the exception of radiosensitizing agents and multimodal treatment for locally advanced disease). ii. Patients must provide tissue for PD-L1 biomarker analysis from a core or excisional biopsy (fine needle aspirate is not sufficient): A newly obtained biopsy (within 90 days prior to start of study treatment) is preferred but an archival sample is acceptable. iii. Patients must have results from testing of human papillomavirus (HPV) status for oropharyngeal cancer * Expansion Cohort 3: Squamous Carcinoma of the Anal Canal (SCAC), locally advanced/unresectable or metastatic. i. Patients must have received (or been intolerant to or ineligible for) at least 1 prior line of chemotherapy and received no more than 2 prior lines of systemic treatments for treatment of unresectable and/or metastatic disease. No prior history of immune checkpoint inhibitors. * Expansion Cohort 5: Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (SqNSCLC) i. Patients must have a histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of stage IV (AJCC 8th edition) squamous NSCLC. Patients with mixed histology (e.g., adenosquamous) are not allowed. ii. Patients must have progressed on one prior systemic therapy in the metastatic setting. iii. No prior history of treatment with anti-EGFR antibodies in the metastatic setting. • Expansion Cohort 6: Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC), metastatic or unresectable, recurrent with a Combined Positive Score (CPS) less than 1, as determined by PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx. 3. Randomized to either ficerafusp alfa alone or in combination with pembrolizumab • Expansion Cohort 9: Colorectal cancer (CRC) i. Patients must have received at least 2 and no more than 3 prior lines of systemic therapy including two standard treatment regimens. Exclusion Criteria: * For Part A: Exposure to anti-EGFR antibodies within 4 weeks of the first dose of study drug. * Prior treatment with any anti-TGFβ therapy. * Prior history of Grade ≥ 2 intolerance or hypersensitivity reaction to cetuximab or other anti-EGFR therapy or other murine proteins or prior discontinuation of therapy in the setting of toxicity related to treatment. * Pregnant or breastfeeding women. * Any condition requiring systemic treatment with either corticosteroids (\>10 mg daily of prednisone or equivalent) or other immunosuppressive medication within 14 days prior to the first dose of study drug, with the exception of topical, intranasal, intrabronchial, or ocular steroids. * Known history of a hematologic malignancy (or solid tumor other than the ones indicated for this study), unless the patient has undergone potentially curative therapy with no evidence of that disease for 2 years. Does not include tumors with a negligible risk of metastasis or death (e.g. adequately treated basal or squamous cell carcinoma, stage 1 prostate cancer, or carcinoma in situ of the cervix or carcinoma in situ of the breast). Subjects enrolling in the CSCC cohort may have chronic lymphocytic leukemia as long as the patient is not on active treatment. * Known cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are excluded if patients have a CD4+ T-cell (CD4+) count \<250 cells/uL. To ensure that effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) is tolerated and that toxicities are not confused with investigational drug toxicities, trial participants should be on established ART for at least four weeks and have an HIV viral load less than 400 copies/mL prior to enrollment. * Patients with chronic HBV infection with active disease who meet the criteria for anti-HBV therapy and are not on a suppressive antiviral therapy prior to initiation of study treatment * Patients with a known history of hepatitis C who have not completed curative antiviral treatment or have a HCV viral load above the limit of quantification

Study sites (15)

CA

FL

  • H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Inc · Tampa, FL 33612Clinical Trials Office · Study contact · 813-945-3563Christine Chung, MD · Principal investigatorMore trials in Tampa

MA

  • Dana Farber/Partners Cancer Care Inc · Boston, MA 02115DFCI Clinical Trials Hotline · Study contact · 877-338-7425Michael Dennis, MD · Principal investigatorMore trials in Boston

NC

NY

OH

PA

RI

SC

TN

  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center · Nashville, TN 37232Vanderbilt Clinical Research Center · Study contact · 615-322-2312Jennifer Choe, MD, PhD · Principal investigatorMore trials in Nashville

TX