Australian Clinical Trials

Broad Health Condition Cancer
Oral and Gastrointestinal

Specific Health ConditionHead and neck
Other diseases of the mouth, teeth, oesophagus, digestive system including liver and colon

Trial FocusTreatment

Recruitment Details

Recruitment status
Recruiting

Recruitment State
NSW,SA,VIC

Hospital
The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse - Camperdown
Liverpool Hospital - Liverpool
Flinders Medical Centre - Bedford Park
Barwon Health - McKellar Centre campus - North Geelong
The Royal Adelaide Hospital - Adelaide

Postcode
2050 - Camperdown
2170 - Liverpool
5042 - Bedford Park
3215 - North Geelong
5000 - Adelaide

Trial location outside Australia
South Africa

Phase of TrialPhase 1

Has the study received ethics approval?Approved

Trial summary

Introduction
As you are going to be treated with chemoradiation therapy for your head and neck cancer, you will most likely develop oral mucositis. As such this study is testing an experimental treatment for oral mucositis. This experimental treatment is called ST-617. 
Oral mucositis involves painful ulcers or lesions developing in the lining of your mouth.  There are currently no approved medicines to successfully prevent and/or treat oral mucositis for head and neck cancer patients. Most patients are treated with best supportive care (BSC) which includes such things as making sure you are taking care of your mouth properly, providing ice chips or lozenges to suck on, or swishing with a mouthwash.
This study aims to test the safety and tolerability of ST-617 on patients and their oral cavities while they are being treated with chemoradiation for head and neck cancer. There are two arms to this study, Phase 1b and Phase 2. It is hoped that the Phase 1 arm will help determine the recommended dose of ST-617 that will be used in head and neck cancer patients in the Phase 2 study.
ST-617 is a medication that has been widely studied in multiple human clinical trials and belongs to a group of medications that have been shown to help protect cells from damage.
Who is it for?
You may be eligible for this study if you are an adult who has been diagnosed with head and neck cancer who is planning to undergo chemoradiation.
Study details
In the Phase 1b part of the study participants will receive either Best Supportive Care (BSC) alone, or BSC plus an oral suspension of ST-617 administered daily for 3 days prior to the start of radiation, and then daily during radiation treatment.
Participants will attend hospital visits for approximately 4 months. After the last visit, their study doctor will check on the status of their cancer every 3 months for up to 1 year after they started radiation.
Most of the exams, tests, and procedures that will be done during this study are part of regular medical care, but will be done multiple times so more information can be gathered. 
Participation in this study will be divided into different visits: Screening Period, Treatment Period, End of Treatment, 30-Day Safety Follow-Up and Response Follow-Up Visits.
Blood will be taken from a vein in the participants’ arm for testing of their general health and to check their medical condition.

Key inclusion criteria

Patient Inclusion Criteria
Each patient must meet all the following criteria to participate in the study:

1. Histopathologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx or nasopharynx.

2. Unknown Human Papillomavirus (HPV) positive primaries thought to be of oropharyngeal origin may be included if other inclusion criteria are met.

3. Documentation of HPV status for tumors of the oropharynx, tonsils or base of tongue. HPV status is determined by testing of the tumor (not an oral swab).

4. Planned therapy to include a continuous course of external beam radiation to include intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with concurrent cisplatin monotherapy administered every week (30-40 mg/m2 for 6-7 doses) or every 3-weeks (60-100 mg/m2 for 3 doses).

5. Planned total radiation dose of between 60-72 Gy administered in single daily fractions of 2.0-2.2 Gy.

6. Radiation field must include at least 2 mucosal sites within the oral cavity (buccal mucosa, floor of mouth, lateral or ventral tongue, anterior tonsillar pillars, or soft palate) in which both sites receive a minimum cumulative radiation dose of 55 Gy.

7. Patient able to voluntarily provide written informed consent to participate in the study.

8. Capable of understanding and complying with the protocol requirements.

9. Adult patients aged between 18 to 75 years old.

10. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status of less than or equal to 2.

11. Adequate organ and bone marrow function as defined by:
a. Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) greater than or equal to 1.0 × 10^9/L (1,000/mm^3).
b. Haemoglobin (Hgb) greater than or equal to 9.0 g/dL.
c. Platelets greater than or equal to 75 × 10^9/L (75,000/mm^3).
d. Bilirubin less than or equal to 1.5 x the upper limit of normal (ULN).
e. Serum creatinine less than or equal to 1.5 x ULN or calculated creatinine clearance greater than or equal to 60 mL/min.
f. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) less than or equal to 2.5 x ULN if no liver involvement, or less than or equal to 5 x ULN with liver involvement.
g. Albumin less than or equal to 3.5 g/dL or within normal range.

12. No evidence of any active oral mucositis (must be Grade 0 on WHO scale).

13. Ability to swish and swallow fluids in mouth without difficulty.

14. Able to minimise time in direct sunlight while on protocol.

15. Sexually active patients must agree to use medically-accepted barrier methods of contraception (e.g., male condom, female condom, or diaphragm with spermicidal gel) during the course of the study and for 3 months after the last dose of study drug.

16. Women of childbearing potential (WCBP) must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test at screening. WCBP includes any woman who has experienced menarche and who has not undergone successful surgical sterilization (hysterectomy, bilateral tubal ligation, or bilateral oophorectomy) or is not postmenopausal.

17. Patient’s written informed consent to test for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Minimum age18 Years

Maximum age75 Years

GenderBoth males and females

Can Healthy volunteers participate? No

Key exclusion criteria

Patient Exclusion Criteria
Patients who meet any of the following criteria will be excluded from the study:

1. Planned continuation of cisplatin or other chemotherapy following radiotherapy.

2. Patients with known infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or have clinical signs and symptoms consistent with current HIV infection.

3. Known presence in serum of Hepatitis B surface antigen.

4. Evidence of any current active oral mucositis (must be Grade 0 on WHO scale).

5. Prior treatment including:
a. Radiotherapy or brachytherapy to the head and neck;
b. Cytotoxic chemotherapy (including investigational cytotoxic chemotherapy) within 3 weeks, or nitrosoureas / mitomycin C within 6 weeks before the first dose of study treatment;
c. Treatment with therapeutic antibody less than 4 weeks before the first dose of study treatment;
d. Small molecule kinase inhibitor or other small molecule investigational agent within 14 days or 5 half-lives of the compound or active metabolites, whichever is greater, before the first dose of study treatment.

6. The patient has not recovered from toxicity due to all prior therapies (i.e., return to pre-therapy baseline or to Grade 0). Persistent > Grade 0 toxicity from prior therapy will be considered by the Sponsor for inclusion if there is no evidence of an overlapping ST-617 toxicity.

7. Major surgery within 21 days prior to first dose of study drug.

8. Current untreated or unresolved oral candidiasis or oral herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection.

9. History of thromboembolic or peripheral vascular disease (including Raynaud’s and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)).

10. Grade 2 or greater baseline neuropathy.

11. History of malabsorption or other gastrointestinal disease that may significantly alter the absorption of ST-617 (e.g., greater than or equal to Grade 2 nausea, vomiting or diarrhea).

12. History of poorly controlled Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes mellitus, with a haemoglobin A1c greater than or equal to 8%.

13. Uncontrolled significant intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, history of congestive heart failure within 6 months, hypertension, unstable angina pectoris within 6 months, stroke within 6 months, myocardial infarction within 6 months, or cardiac arrhythmias. (Controlled chronic atrial fibrillation will not be excluded).

14. QTc interval corrected by Fridericia’s method greater than 450 msec for male patients or greater than 470 msec for female patients or history or risk factors for or use of medications known to prolong QTc interval or that may be associated with Torsades de Pointes (TdP) within 7 days of treatment start. CredibleMeds list of drugs known to cause TdP may be used as a reference for this study to determine which drugs are prohibited using the following link: https://crediblemeds.org/new-drug-list or a crediblemeds mobile application.

15. History of other medical or psychiatric illness or organ dysfunction which, in the opinion of the Investigator, would either compromise the patient’s safety or interfere with the evaluation of the safety of the study agent.

16. Concurrent administration of strong inhibitors of CYP3A4.

17. Concurrent administration of drugs that enhance photosensitivity.

18. The patient has a previously identified allergy or hypersensitivity to components of the study treatment formulation, dithiolethiones or platinum compounds.

19. Pregnant or breast-feeding women.

20. Unable to eat a solid diet due to sequelae of surgery or tumor, or gastrostomy-feeding dependence at baseline.