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Valproic Acid/Simvastatin Plus Gemcitabine/Nab-paclitaxel Based Regimens in Untreated Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Patients

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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05821556
Recruitment Status : Recruiting
First Posted : April 20, 2023
Last Update Posted : June 15, 2023
Sponsor:
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
National Cancer Institute, Naples

Brief Summary:
This is a proof-of-concept, Open label, randomized, multicentric, superiority phase-2 study.

Condition or disease Intervention/treatment Phase
Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas Drug: Valproic acid Drug: Simvastatin 20mg Drug: Gemcitabine 1000 mg Drug: Nab paclitaxel Drug: Cisplatin Drug: Capecitabine Phase 2

Detailed Description:

The study hypothesizes that valproic acid (VPA) in combination with simvastatin (SIM) may improve the efficacy of first-line gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel-based regimens and extend progression free survival (PFS) as compared with chemotherapy alone, in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (mPDAC).

Correlative studies on tumor and blood samples could identify potential biomarkers of toxicity and efficacy helping to define personalized treatment strategy and adding new insight into the antitumor mechanism of the combination approach.

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Study Type : Interventional  (Clinical Trial)
Estimated Enrollment : 240 participants
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description:

Patients will be randomized electronically 1:1 to one of the two arms:

A. Standard: Nab-paclitaxel 125 mg/m2 followed by gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, and 15 (AG); or nab-paclitaxel 150 mg/m2, followed by gemcitabine 800 mg/m2, followed by cisplatin 30 mg/m2 on days 1 and 15, and oral capecitabine 1250 mg/m2 on days 1-28 (PAXG). B. Experimental: Chemotherapy (AG or PAXG) + simvastatin oral daily at a fixed dosage of 20 mg in combination with increasing doses of valproic acid administered oral daily from day -7 with an intra-patient titration for a final target serum level of 50-100µg/ml.

Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title: Randomized Phase 2 Study of Valproic Acid combinEd With Simvastatin and Gemcitabine/Nab-paclitaxel-based Regimens in Untreated Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Patients (The VESPA Trial).
Actual Study Start Date : June 12, 2023
Estimated Primary Completion Date : August 2025
Estimated Study Completion Date : June 2026

Resource links provided by the National Library of Medicine


Arm Intervention/treatment
Active Comparator: Standard
Nab-paclitaxel 125 mg/m2 followed by gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, and 15 (AG); or nab-paclitaxel 150 mg/m2, followed by gemcitabine 800 mg/m2, followed by cisplatin 30 mg/m2 on days 1 and 15, and oral capecitabine 1250 mg/m2 on days 1-28 (PAXG).
Drug: Gemcitabine 1000 mg

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Drug: Nab paclitaxel

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Drug: Cisplatin

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Drug: Capecitabine

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Experimental: Experimental
Chemotherapy (AG or PAXG) + simvastatin oral daily at a fixed dosage of 20 mg in combination with increasing doses of valproic acid administered oral daily from day -7 with an intra-patient titration for a final target serum level of 50-100µg/ml.
Drug: Valproic acid

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Drug: Simvastatin 20mg

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Drug: Gemcitabine 1000 mg

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Drug: Nab paclitaxel

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Drug: Cisplatin

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.


Drug: Capecitabine

The treatment should be started within 3 days from randomization. One cycle consisted of 28 days of treatment for both arms. Patients will continue to receive study treatment up to 6 cycles until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, physician's decision, patient's refusal, or any other discontinuation criteria. Continuation of treatment, over the six cycles, will be allowed only in case of clinical benefit, defined as continuous decrease of CA19-9 concentration or radiological response, without unacceptable toxicity.

All subjects who finish treatment, whichever the reason, will enter in the follow-up. We expect that for the primary endpoint, PFS, follow-up will last up to 10 months after enrollment.

Anyhow, all subjects will be followed until death and data on subsequent treatment will be collected.





Primary Outcome Measures :
  1. Progression Free Survival (PFS) [ Time Frame: 40 months ]
    PFS is defined as the time from randomization to the first documentation of objective disease progression by RECIST 1.1 criteria, or death due to any cause, whichever occurs first. PFS will be censored at the time of the last available tumor assessment documenting absence of progressive disease for patients alive at the time of analysis.


Secondary Outcome Measures :
  1. Objective Tumor Response Rate (ORR) [ Time Frame: 40 months ]
    Objective Tumor Response Rate (ORR) as defined by RECIST 1.1, calculated as the proportion of patients achieving complete or partial response relative to total enrolled patients.

  2. Duration of Objective response (DOR) [ Time Frame: 40 months ]
    Duration of Objective response (DOR) defined as the first occurrence of a documented objective response until progression or death for any cause.

  3. Disease Control Rate (DCR) [ Time Frame: 40 months ]
    Disease Control Rate (DCR) defined as the proportion of patients with complete/partial response and stable disease as their best response.

  4. Overall Survival (OS) [ Time Frame: 40 months ]
    Overall Survival (OS) defined as the time from randomization to the date of death due to any cause. OS will be censored at the last date the patient was known to be alive for patients alive at the time of analysis.

  5. Overall toxicity rate [ Time Frame: 40 months ]
    Overall toxicity rate defined as the proportion of patients experiencing any grade AE accordingly to the NCI Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events (NCI CTC-AE) Version 5, relative to the total of patients receiving at least one cycle of treatment.AE will be listed individually by the patient and summarized overall (severity grades 1-4) and for grade ≥3 by treatment received.

  6. Quality of Life (QoL) [ Time Frame: 40 months ]
    Quality of Life (QoL), based on questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30 at baseline (prior to treatment start, once eligibility is confirmed) and every 8 weeks until 40 weeks after randomization, regardless of disease progression, or death



Information from the National Library of Medicine

Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.


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Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years and older   (Adult, Older Adult)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Written informed consent to study procedures and to correlative studies.
  2. Histologically or cytologically proven metastatic PDAC.
  3. No prior treatments (chemotherapy, radiation or surgery) for PDAC
  4. Either sex aged ≥ 18 years.
  5. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status ≤1 at study entry.
  6. Imaging-documented measurable disease, according to RECIST 1.1 criteria.
  7. Known dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) activity is mandatory for patients enrolled in PAXG scheme.
  8. Adequate bone marrow haematological function: absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≥ 1.5 x 109/L AND platelet count ≥ 100 x 109/L AND haemoglobin ≥ 9 g/dL.
  9. Adequate liver function: total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 x upper limit of normal (ULN) or ≤ 2 in case of biliary stent) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ≤ 5 X ULN.
  10. Adequate renal function: serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 mg/dL OR creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min in males and ≥50 mL/min in females (calculated according to Cockroft-Gault formula).

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Prior malignancy within one year. 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.
  2. Prior chemotherapy or any other medical treatment for metastatic PDAC (previous adjuvant chemotherapy is allowed if terminated > 6 months previously).
  3. Patients who have had prior treatment with an HDAC inhibitor and patients who have received compounds with HDAC inhibitor-like activity, such as valproic acid.
  4. Current use of statins or fibrates or any medication for hypercholesterolemia for any time during the 3 months before the study.
  5. Proven hypersensitivity to statins.
  6. Major surgical intervention within 4 weeks prior to enrollment;
  7. Pregnancy and breast-feeding.
  8. Brain metastasis.
  9. Evidence of severe or uncontrolled systemic disease or any concurrent condition which in the investigator's opinion makes it undesirable for the patient to participate in the study, or which would jeopardize compliance with the protocol, or would interfere with the results of the study.
  10. Patients with long QT-syndrome or QTc interval duration > 480 msec or concomitant medication with drugs prolonging QTc (see list in the appendix).
  11. History of poor co-operation, non-compliance with medical treatment, unreliability or any condition that may impair the patient's understanding of the Informed consent form.
  12. Participation in any interventional drug or medical device study within 30 days prior to treatment start.
  13. Patients who cannot take oral medication, who require intravenous alimentation, have had prior surgical procedures affecting absorption, or have active peptic ulcer disease.
  14. Sexually active males and females (of childbearing potential) unwilling to practice contraception (barrier contraceptive measure or oral contraception) during the study and until 6 months after the last trial treatment.

Information from the National Library of Medicine

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT05821556


Contacts
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Contact: Antonio Avallone 08117770357 a.avallone@istitutotumori.na.it
Contact: Alessandra Leone 08117770585 a.leone@istitutotumori.na.it

Locations
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Italy
Università vita e Salute, IRCCS San Raffaele Not yet recruiting
Milano, Italy
Contact: Michele Reni    0226437644    reni.michele@hsr.it   
Istituto Nazionale Tumori di Napoli - IRCCS - Fondazione G. Pascale Recruiting
Napoli, Italy, 80131
Contact: Antonio Avallone, MD    00390815903629    a.avallone@istitutotumori.na.it   
Contact: Alfredo Budillon, MD    00390815903292    a.budillon@istitutotumori.na.it   
Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Gemelli - Medical Oncology, Roma, Italia Not yet recruiting
Roma, Italy
Contact: Giampaolo Tortora    0630157080    giampaolo.tortora@policlinicogemelli.it   
University of Verona Hospital Trust Not yet recruiting
Verona, Italy, 37122
Contact: Michele Milella    0458128502    michele.milella@univr.it   
Spain
Ramon y Cajal Hospital and Health Research Institute (IRYCIS) Not yet recruiting
Madrid, Spain
Contact: Maria Laura Garcia Bermejo    +34914889706    garciabermejo@gmail.com   
Sponsors and Collaborators
National Cancer Institute, Naples
Investigators
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Principal Investigator: Alfredo Budillon IRCCS I.N.T. "G. Pascale
Principal Investigator: Antonio Avallone IRCCS I.N.T. "G. Pascale
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Responsible Party: National Cancer Institute, Naples
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05821556    
Other Study ID Numbers: VESPA
1/23 ( Other Identifier: IRCCS I.N.T. "G. Pascale" )
First Posted: April 20, 2023    Key Record Dates
Last Update Posted: June 15, 2023
Last Verified: March 2023

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Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: No
Product Manufactured in and Exported from the U.S.: No
Keywords provided by National Cancer Institute, Naples:
Metastatic
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
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Adenocarcinoma
Carcinoma
Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial
Neoplasms by Histologic Type
Neoplasms
Paclitaxel
Gemcitabine
Capecitabine
Valproic Acid
Simvastatin
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
Antineoplastic Agents
Tubulin Modulators
Antimitotic Agents
Mitosis Modulators
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic
Antimetabolites
Anticholesteremic Agents
Hypolipidemic Agents
Lipid Regulating Agents
Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Anticonvulsants
GABA Agents
Neurotransmitter Agents
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Antimanic Agents
Tranquilizing Agents
Central Nervous System Depressants