This month saw the NEPTUNES trial open to recruitment at University College London Hospitals.
NEPTUNES is looking at giving two immunotherapy drugs, Nivolumab (Nivo) and ipilimumab (Ipi), to patients with castrate-resistant metastatic prostate cancer with an immunogenic signature (ImS).
The ImS is made up of a combination of markers that have been linked to response to immunotherapy drugs. Patients will be first registered into the trial to determine their ImS status. Those found to be ImS positive will be invited to participate in the treatment stage of the trial, where they will receive both Nivo and Ipi. About 20-25% of patients registered are expected to be ImS positive.
NEPTUNES will recruit patients from 15 sites across the UK and is expected to reach its recruitment target during the third quarter of 2019.
NEPTUNES Chief Investigator Dr Mark Linch remarked: “There are an increasing number of reports of responses to immunotherapy in patients with prostate cancer, so I believe this is a really exciting time for a combination immunotherapy study in prostate cancer in the UK. I look forward to all sites opening up in the very near future!“
More details on the trial can be found
here.
(Image: prostate cancer cell courtesy of LRI EM Unit).