The STELLAR trial will assess the effect of acalabrutinib taken in combination with CHOP-R compared to taking CHOP-R alone in patients with newly diagnosed Richter's Syndrome (RS). It will also be a platform to test other new drugs that show potential for treating RS. Chronic lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) is the most common blood cancer in adults, usually in their 70s or older. In a few patients, CLL can transform from a slow-growing cancer into an aggressive lymphoma called Richter's Syndrome. RS is very difficult to treat and patients have a short life-expectancy - usually a few months after diagnosis. Treatment for Richter's Syndrome in the UK is CHOP (four chemotherapy drugs) plus rituximab ('R' - an antibody treatment). The CHOP-R treatment is given as a standard of care for RS but has limited benefit - it is often temporary to extend life. Richter's Syndrome returns in most patients who then die from this disease. The STELLAR trial will investigate if a new drug called acalabrutinib, which is effective used by itself in patients with relapsed CLL and also some with Richter's Syndrome, will improve outcomes for newly diagnosed patients with RS. Acalabrutinib blocks a protein in CLL which can stop the cancer growing. Participants who have Richter's Syndrome and are suitable for CHOP-R will be recruited by specialised hospitals across the UK. People with another cancer, heart problems, or recent stroke cannot take part. Participants will have a lymph node biopsy, 3-4 bone marrow biopsies, blood samples, and PET-CT and CT scans. CHOP-R is given in a hospital every three weeks up to 6 times. All participants will receive CHOP-R; half will also receive acalabrutinib. When treatment with CHOP-R ends the patients who had acalabrutinib can continue to take it; patients who had CHOP-R alone may have acalabrutinib if their Richter's Syndrome returns after CHOP-R.
Trial Design: STELLAR is a UK multi-centre trial for patients with newly-diagnosed Richter's Syndrome (RS), which is a rare and highly aggressive transformation of another blood cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). It has two parts: a randomised trial (the main component of the trial) which compares the current standard of care with an 'experimental' combination, and a platform for trialing single-arm studies investigating new drugs, or new combinations of drugs, for treating patients with newly-diagnosed Richter's Syndrome. The first novel treatment to be investigated in STELLAR is acalabrutinib which is a 'small molecule' drug that targets and blocks one of the pathways that causes the CLL (and by extension Richter's Syndrome) cancer cells to grow and multiply. Stopping the proliferation of cancer cells is a key aim of cancer treatments. There have been promising studies using acalabrutinib to treat patients with CLL and patients with Richter's Syndrome, but so far these are small and have not compared acalabrutinib, on its own or in a combination, with the current Standard of Care treatment for Richter's Syndrome: CHOP-R chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisolone and rituximab). In the STELLAR trial we will investigate if adding acalabrutinib to CHOP-R gives a better outcome for patients than CHOP-R alone. The sample sizes described below have been calculated by biostatisticians and are based on the known rates of progression, survival, and response rates for patients with Richter's Syndrome. The sample sizes given below will enable us to answer the research questions with the appropriate number of patients with a strong confidence interval. In the randomised component of STELLAR, 60 eligible patients will be randomised 1:1 between the current standard of care for Richter's Syndrome (CHOP-R) and the experimental treatment of CHOP-R plus acalabrutinib such that 30 patients are in each of these two sets. The trial is not blinded so participants, clinic staff, and trial staff will know which treatment they receive after the patient has been randomised. Participants will have frequent assessments, which includes assessments after 4 and 6 cycles of treatment to see if the treatment is working, and all patients will be followed up for a minimum of 2 years. The primary aim of the randomised component is to see if adding acalabrutinib to CHOP-R improves the rate of progression free survival (PFS) for RS patients, i.e. if they are in remission from Richter's Syndrome for a longer period of time. It is important that this component is randomised so that the comparison of the two treatments will be fair and unbiased. In the platform study part of STELLAR, single-arm cohorts (not randomised) will receive treatment which will test the activity of novel combinations or treatment. The platform may be expanded to test other promising treatments if any are identified whilst the randomised trial is open to recruitment. In the first platform study there are two cohorts which will answer two different research questions. The platform arms are not randomised or blinded because they are not comparable; it is rather that they help us to determine whether these treatments may be possible candidates for future therapies. * Cohort 1 (21-30 participants) will be made up of patients whose Richter's Syndrome has progressed (their disease has got worse) whilst being treated with CHOP-R (or CHOP + another immunotherapy treatment) alone or who have relapsed with Richter's Syndrome after completing treatment with CHOP-R. Entry to this cohort will be prioritised for patients who have taken part in the STELLAR randomised trial, but will be opened up to patients outside STELLAR if fewer than 21 patients from STELLAR take part. In this cohort we will investigate if giving acalabrutinib treatment on its own improves outcomes for patients who have got worse on or relapsed after the current standard of care (CHOP-R). * Cohort 2 (up to 15 patients) are anthracycline-naïve (they haven't received CHOP-R before) Richter's Syndrome patients, who have been diagnosed whilst being treated with ibrutinib (defined as a diagnosis within 4 weeks of the last dose of ibrutinib). Ibrutinib is the same class of drug as acalabrutinib, though acalabrutinib is a newer drug. Ibrutinib is often used to treat CLL and it is not known if patients who have been treated with ibrutinib will respond to treatment with acalabrutinib if they have Richter's Syndrome. Ibrutinib is becoming a routine treatment for CLL, so it is important to find out if acalabrutinib will help patients who do not respond to ibrutinib. These patients are not included in the randomised trial so that we can determine if acalabrutinib will work in these ibrutinib-treated patients. Participants: Participants will be identified at specialist haemato-oncology centres around the UK through multidisciplinary team meetings and consultant referral from other centres. Patients will be approached by their consultant and other, trained, members of the clinic team to introduce and discuss the trial. Patients will receive a patient information sheet and will be given at least 24 hours to review the information and ask any additional questions they may have. Patients who have enrolled on STELLAR who are offered entry into Cohort 1 because their disease has worsened when treated with CHOP-R alone, will already be familiar with the trial processes and systems. They will need to know all of the new information about acalabrutinib (the treatment for Cohort 1) and will be provided with a separate patient information sheet, clinicians will aim to give patients at least 24 hours to review the information. Because these patients are already familiar with the trial and will need urgent treatment they may be permitted to consent on the same day that they have received the patient information sheet if they have all their questions answered and are happy to proceed. Treatment: Participants randomised to the standard of care arm will receive up to 6 cycles of CHOP-R where each cycle is 21 days. Participants will be treated in a hospital day unit on day 1 of each cycle and will have tablets to take at home on days 2 to 5. All participants will be formally assessed after 4 and 6 cycles of treatment. Participants who have achieved a response may continue on to a stem cell transplant if they are suitable. Participants who do not achieve a response will be offered entry in to the platform Cohort 1 to receive acalabrutinib monotherapy if they are eligible. Entry into Cohort 1 is not mandatory; the participant's doctor will discuss all possible treatment options with them. Participants who consent and are registered to Cohort 1 will take 100 mg twice-daily of acalabrutinib at home as oral tablets. Treatment is continuous until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity or patient choice. Participants will be formally assessed at weeks 12 and 24 to determine if they are responding to treatment. Participants randomised to the experimental arm of STELLAR and registered to Cohort 2 will receive up to 6 cycles of CHOP-R where each cycle is 21 days. Participants will be treated in a hospital day unit on day 1 of each cycle and will have tablets to take at home on days 2 to 5. Patients will then take 100 mg twice daily of acalabrutinib oral tablets at home on days 6-21. All participants will be formally assessed after 4 and 6 cycles of treatment. Participants who have achieved a response will continue to take acalabrutinib at home at 100 mg twice daily, continuously until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity or patient choice. These participants may continue on to a stem cell transplant if they are suitable. If these patients do not achieve a response, they will discontinue trial treatment. In all cases, if patients do not respond to treatment or wish to withdraw from the trial they will be counselled by their medical team on the options available to them. Assessments and visits: Participants in the STELLAR trial will have frequent assessments in the first 4 to 6 months of the study so that they are monitored for toxicity and response to treatment. Most of the assessments for participants receiving CHOP-R (with or without acalabrutinib) would be done as part of their standard of care. Before entering the study each potential participant will undergo screening assessments in the 4 weeks before trial entry (date of randomisation or registration). Screening assessments: A physical and medical assessment by their doctor to record their: age, medical history, blood pressure, pulse, weight, any symptoms of their Richter's Syndrome, ECG (heart trace), and any other relevant information. Women who are could become pregnant have to have a pregnancy test. Blood samples are taken for local assessments (blood count and other haematology tests, biochemistry, virology, immunology) and also for research (these are 'extra' samples that are not standard of care). Patients will also have a bone marrow assessment, a PET-CT scan, and a lymph node biopsy; these assessments would be done as part of the patients' standard of care. Assessments during the trial: All patients will have local assessments carried out whilst they receive CHOP-R, most of these assessments are standard of care. Patients will have extra assessments that will help us to answer the exploratory questions posed in the trial. Most of these extra assessments will be done at the same time as local assessments so that patients don't have lots of extra visits to the hospital. Patients in all cohorts will have: a physical assessment by their doctor to record their blood pressure, pulse, weight, and any symptoms or side effects they may have; blood samples are taken for local assessments, patients receiving acalabrutinib will have more blood samples taken for research at the same time as the local ones. All patients will have a lymph node biopsy, bone marrow biopsy and PET-CT scan as part of their screening assessments. Some patients may have a bone marrow biopsy at the end of cycle 6 (or week 24 for Cohort 1) which would be part of their standard of care. All patients will have a CT scan at the end of cycle 4 (week 12 for Cohort 1) and a PET-CT at the end of cycle 6 (week 24 for Cohort 1). If a patient has disease progression they will have another PET-CT scan and lymph node biopsy, and some patients will have a bone marrow biopsy. All of these scans and biopsies would be part of the patient's standard of care. As well as medical assessments, patients will complete validated Quality of Life questionnaires at trials visits. There are three multi item scales on fatigue, treatment side effects and disease symptoms, infection and social activities and future health worries. These questionnaires will be completed at clinic visits. Follow Up: All STELLAR patients will be followed-up for disease status and survival for at least 2 years from trial entry to determine the long-term effectiveness of the therapy.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
105
100mg capsule, PO, BD
750mg/m\^2, IV bolus
50mg/m\^2, IV bolus
1.4mg/m\^2, IV infusion
40mg/m\^2, PO, OD
375mg/m\^2, IV infusion
Belfast City Hospital
Belfast, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGRoyal Bournemouth Hospital
Bournemouth, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGUniversity Hospital of Wales
Cardiff, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGBeatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre
Glasgow, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGSt James's University Hospital
Leeds, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGLeicester Royal Infirmary
Leicester, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGKing's College Hospital
London, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGSt Bartholomew's Hospital
London, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGUniversity College London Hospital
London, United Kingdom
RECRUITINGChristie Hospital
Manchester, United Kingdom
RECRUITING...and 6 more locations
Randomised Component - Progression free survival (PFS)
Progression free survival (PFS) defined as the time from randomisation to the date of progression or death from any cause. Progression will be defined by the modified Cheson criteria (Appendix 1). Patients who are alive and progression free at the time of analysis will be censored at date last seen. Any participants who withdraw or are lost to follow-up will also be censored at date last seen.
Time frame: Time from randomisation to the date of progression or death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months..
Registration Arm - Cohort 1 - Overall Response
Overall response after 24 weeks of treatment based on the modified Cheson criteria (Appendix 1). Complete response (CR) and partial response (PR) are considered to be positive responses for assessment of this outcome. Participants who withdraw prior to the 6 month assessment or do not have the 6 month assessment will be considered non responders.
Time frame: Response assessed at 24 weeks of treatment
Registration Arm - Cohort 2 - Overall Response
Overall response after 6 cycles of treatment, defined by the modified Cheson criteria (Appendix 1). CR and PR are considered to be positive responses for assessment of this outcome. Participants who withdraw prior to the post-cycle-6 assessment or do not have the post-cycle-6 assessment will be considered non-responders.
Time frame: Response assessed after 6 cycles of treatment. Each cycle is 21 days.
Overall Survival
Defined as time from date of randomisation (for randomised trial) or registration (to the relevant cohort for single-arm cohorts) to date of death from any cause. Participants who are alive at the time of analysis will be censored at date last seen.
Time frame: Time from trial entry to the date of death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months.
Overall Response after 6 cycles
Overall response (randomised component only) after cycle 6, defined by the modified Cheson criteria (Appendix 1). CR and PR are considered to be positive responses for assessment of this outcome. Participants who withdraw prior to the post-cycle-6 assessment or do not have the post-cycle-6 assessment will be considered non-responders.
Time frame: Response assessed after 6 cycles of treatment. Each cycle is 21 days.
Overall Response after 12 weeks
Overall response (cohorts 1 only) after 12 weeks, defined by the modified Cheson criteria (Appendix 1). CR and PR are considered to be positive responses for assessment of this outcome. Participants who withdraw prior to the 12-week assessment or do not have the 12- week assessment will be considered non-responders.
Time frame: Response assessed after 12 weeks of treatment
Progression Free Survival
PFS (single-arm cohorts only) defined as the time from date of registration to date of progression or death from any cause. Progression will be defined by the modified Cheson criteria (Appendix 1). Participants who are alive and progression free at the time of analysis will be censored at date last seen. Any patients who withdraw or are lost to follow-up will also be censored at date last seen.
Time frame: Time from date of registration to date of progression or death from any cause, whichever came first, assessed up to 24 months.
Quality of Life Questionnaire Outcomes
QoL, (assessed using ECOG performance status \[Appendix 7\]), and the CLL17 and NHLHG29 questionnaires (Appendix 2)) at the end of cycles 4 and 6 for participants receiving CHOP-R as part of their treatment (randomised cohorts and Cohort 2), and at 12 and 24 weeks for participants receiving acalabrutinib monotherapy (Cohort 1).
Time frame: Analysed at the end of cycles 4 (week 12) and 6 (week 24)
Exhibited Toxicity
Toxicity defined as the number of participants who experience one or more adverse event grade 3 or higher or serious adverse event of any grade.
Time frame: Measured from start of treatment until 28 days after last dose
Proportion of patients proceeding to allogeneic or autologous stem cell transplantation
Measured as proportion of patients proceeding to transplant on each treatment arm, at confirmation of partial or complete remission
Time frame: Confirmation of partial or complete remission, assessed at the following time points: Randomised Trial/ Platform Study - Cohort 2: Post Cycle 4, Post Cycle 6 (where each cycle is 21 days); Platform Study - Cohort 1: Week 12, Week 24.
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