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RecruitingLast updated: 17 September 2025

A study recruiting adults with head and neck cancer to find out whether combining different study medicines makes tumours shrinkA Phase Ib Open Label Randomised Clinical Trial to Evaluate Safety and Efficacy of BI 770371 in Combination With Pembrolizumab With or Without Cetuximab Compared With Pembrolizumab Monotherapy for the First-line Treatment of Patients With Metastatic or Recurrent Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC)

Trial purpose

Medical clipboardCancer treatment

Tumor type

Head and Neck Cancers Head and Neck

Age

People18+

Clinical summary

Summary

You may be eligible for this study if you have metastatic or recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and have not received prior systemic treatment for your metastatic or recurrent disease. Treatment prior to disease progression is allowed. 

The tested medicines in this study are antibodies that act in different ways against cancer.  BI 770371 and pembrolizumab may help the immune system fight cancer. Cetuximab blocks growth signals and may prevent the tumour from growing. 

Eligible participants will be put into 3 groups randomly. Each group receives a different combination of study medicines. All study medicines are given as an infusion into a vein (IV) at the study site.

Participants can stay in the study as long as they benefit from treatment. Doctors regularly check the size of the tumour and check whether it has spread to other parts of the body. The doctors also regularly check participants' health and take note of any unwanted effects.

 

Conditions

This trial is treating people with metastatic or recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with a primary tumour location of oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, or larynx

Eligibility

Inclusion

  • Patients with histologically confirmed metastatic or recurrent HNSCC of the primary tumour location of oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, and larynx not amenable to locoregional treatment with curative intent.
  • Willingness to provide pretreatment (baseline) biopsy/tissue to the sponsor (fresh or archival one). A newly obtained biopsy is preferred but an archival sample is acceptable, with tumor tissue (formalin fixed paraffin embedded [FFPE] block preferred, or at least 10 freshly sectioned unstained FFPE slides) from a core or excisional biopsy. Any deviation from this rule requires approval by the sponsor. Details on the requirements for archival tumour tissue and on biopsy sample collection are provided in the Laboratory Manual.
  • Patients who have not received prior systemic treatment for metastatic or recurrent HNSCC. Systemic therapy (including cetuximab) which was completed more than 6 months prior to progression of disease if given as part of multimodal treatment for locally advanced disease is allowed.
  • Patients who do not have contraindications to pembrolizumab monotherapy according to pembrolizumab local label, guidelines, treatment standards, regulations or the document (label of another country if pembrolizumab local label is not available) provided in the investigator site file (ISF) by the sponsor.
  • Patients who do not have contraindications to treatment with cetuximab according to cetuximab local label, guidelines, treatment standards, regulations, or the document (label of another country if cetuximab local label is not available) provided in the ISF by the sponsor.
  • Presence of at least one measurable non-central nervous system (CNS) lesion (according to RECIST v1.1.).
  • Further inclusion criteria apply.

Exclusion

  • Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) of any histology, primary tumour location at nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses of any histology, any cancer of unknown primary.
  • Any tumour location necessitating an urgent therapeutic intervention (e.g., palliative care, surgery, or radiation therapy), such as spinal cord compression, other compressive mass, uncontrolled painful lesion, bone fracture.
  • Patients with progressive HNSCC within 6 months of completion of systemic therapy for locoregionally advanced disease with curative intent.
  • Receiving treatment for brain metastases or leptomeningeal disease (LMD) which may interfere with safety and/or endpoint assessment. Patients with previously diagnosed brain metastases are eligible if they have completed their treatment and have recovered from the acute effects of radiation therapy or surgery prior to trial entry, have discontinued corticosteroid treatment for these metastases and are clinically stable, off anticonvulsants for at least 4 weeks and are neurologically stable before enrollment.
  • Patients for whom single agent pembrolizumab is not the preferred treatment (e.g. patients for whom chemotherapy or anti-PD-1 in combination with chemotherapy is considered the preferred therapy by the investigator or treating physician).
  • Prior treatment with any anti signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPα) or anti-integrin-associated protein (CD47) agent, regardless of treatment intent.
  • Prior cancer treatment with any anti PD-1 or anti PD-L1 agent or with an agent directed to another stimulatory or co-inhibitory Tcell receptor (e.g. CTLA-4, OX 40, CD137), regardless of treatment intent.
  • Prior allogeneic stem cell or solid organ transplantation.
  • Further exclusion criteria apply.

Inclusion

  • You have had treatment, but your cancer has come back (relapsed or recurrent).
  • Your cancer has spread to other parts of the body (metastatic) or has grown into nearby parts of the body (locally advanced).

Exclusion

  • You have certain types of non-cancer medical conditions.
  • You have had certain treatments, surgical procedures or drugs.
Message

Clinical trials have complex eligibility criteria, and other criteria may apply for this trial. Ask your doctor about whether this trial could be right for you.

Participating hospitals

Recruiting hospitals

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More information

Trial Identifiers

Information on this page is partially produced from ClinicalTrials.gov *. View further details about this trial on the registry via the links below:

Trial sponsor

Boehringer Ingelheim

Scientific Title

A Phase Ib Open Label Randomised Clinical Trial to Evaluate Safety and Efficacy of BI 770371 in Combination With Pembrolizumab With or Without Cetuximab Compared With Pembrolizumab Monotherapy for the First-line Treatment of Patients With Metastatic or Recurrent Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC)

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