This phase II trial investigates how well AGEN1884 and AGEN2034 work in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine in treating patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer before surgery that removes all of the bladder as well as nearby tissues and organs (radical cystectomy). AGEN1884 (a CTLA-4 blocking agent) and AGEN2034 (a PD-1 blocking agent) are a class of drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors that may help the body's immune system attack the cancer and interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Chemotherapy drugs, such as cisplatin and gemcitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Standard of care treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer is chemotherapy followed by surgery and a cystectomy. Adding AGEN1884 and AGEN2034 to this standard treatment may improve the rate of the bladder cancer coming back.
Study sponsor and potential other locations can be found on ClinicalTrials.gov for NCT04430036.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:
I. To estimate the pathologic tumor downstaging of >= T2 to pT0 rate using neoadjuvant zalifrelimab (AGEN1884) plus balstilimab (AGEN2034) in combination with cisplatin-gemcitabine chemotherapy in the treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer in patients eligible for cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
I. To evaluate the safety and tolerability of using AGEN1884 plus AGEN2034 plus cisplatin and gemcitabine chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer prior to radical cystectomy.
II. To estimate pathologic downstaging of >= T2 to < T2 rate.
III. To investigate biological outcomes that could predict treatment efficacy.
EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVE:
I. To correlate clinical outcomes with immune and biologic endpoints and identify patient and tumor characteristics that can predict treatment responses.
OUTLINE:
Patients receive balstilimab intravenously (IV) over 30 minutes on day 1, zalifrelimab IV over 30 minutes on day 1 of cycles 1 and 3, gemcitabine IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 8, and cisplatin IV over 2 hours on day 1. Treatment repeats every 21 days for up to 4 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Within 10 weeks after completing treatment, patients undergo radical cystectomy.
After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 3 months for 1 year and then quarterly but not less than 1 year from initiation of treatment. Thereafter, patients are seen based on their clinical stability, but no less than every 6 months for a total of 2 years.
Lead OrganizationCancer Therapy and Research Center at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio
Principal InvestigatorChethan Ramamurthy