The purpose of this study is to find out the effectiveness of pembrolizumab in combination with BCG as a first line therapy for participants with high grade T1 bladder cancer who are at "high risk" for BCG alone to be ineffective and are seeking an alternative treatment option to radical cystectomy. There is biologic rationale for combining pembrolizumab and BCG as two distinct immunotherapies with possible additive or synergistic activity in urothelial cancer. The combination of pembrolizumab with BCG will also be evaluated in an exploratory cohort of patients with upper tract urothelial cancer.
Patients will receive pembrolizumab (MK-3475) administered after TUR in combination with BCG as initial therapy. Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) will be administered as a 400 mg IV infusion at 6-week intervals (Q6W) for 9 doses over a 48 week period, unless there is unacceptable toxicity or other reasons that would warrant the discontinuation of treatment. Patients will receive once-weekly BCG therapy (TICE strain, 50 mg) for 6 consecutive weeks as a standard induction course, given as intravesical BCG for patients with T1 bladder cancer, and administered through a percutaneous nephrostomy tube in antegrade fashion for patients with high-grade NMI-UTUC, consistent with standard clinical practice. BCG will start on week 3 after the first infusion of pembrolizumab (400 mg) to allow for initial priming of T cells to further enhance the effects of BCG treatment. Initiation of induction BCG may be delayed (up to 14 days) if deemed clinically indicated by the treating physician due to side effects from TURBT or ureteroscopy and with permission from the Principal Investigator (PI).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
45
Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) will be administered as a 400 mg intravenous (IV) infusion at 6- week intervals for 9 doses over a 48-week.
Intravesical BCG will be administrated once per week over a 6-week period as induction therapy, followed by maintenance BCG consistent with standard clinical practice
Memorial Sloan Kettering Basking Ridge (All Protocol Activities)
Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States
Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth (All Protocol Activities)
Middletown, New Jersey, United States
Memorial Sloan Kettering Bergen (All protocol activities)
Montvale, New Jersey, United States
Memorial Sloan Kettering Commack (All protocol activities)
Commack, New York, United States
Memorial Sloan Kettering West Harrison (All Protocol Activities)
Harrison, New York, United States
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (All Protocol Activities)
New York, New York, United States
Memorial Sloan Kettering Nassau (All Protocol Activities)
Uniondale, New York, United States
The proportion of patients who are disease-free
The primary objective for the high-risk T1 bladder cohort is to estimate the proportion of patients who remain free from high-grade recurrence (by urine cytology, cystoscopy ± biopsy) at 6 months from the start of treatment with pembrolizumab (MK-3475) and BCG
Time frame: 6 months
The proportion of patients who remain free from high-grade recurrence
Determine the proportion of patients who remain free from high-grade recurrence (by urine cytology, cystoscopy ± biopsy) at 12 months from the start of treatment with pembrolizumab (MK-3475) and BCG
Time frame: 6 months
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