Clinical Trial of Phenformin in Combination With BRAF Inhibitor + MEK Inhibitor for Patients With BRAF-mutated Melanoma
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03026517 |
Recruitment Status :
Active, not recruiting
First Posted : January 20, 2017
Last Update Posted : June 21, 2022
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Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
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Melanoma | Drug: Dabrafenib Drug: Trametinib Drug: Phenformin | Phase 1 |
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Actual Enrollment : | 18 participants |
Allocation: | N/A |
Intervention Model: | Single Group Assignment |
Masking: | None (Open Label) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Phase I Trial of Phenformin With Patients With Combination BRAF Inhibitor/MEK Inhibitor in Patients With BRAFV600E/K-mutated Melanoma |
Actual Study Start Date : | January 2017 |
Estimated Primary Completion Date : | January 2024 |
Estimated Study Completion Date : | January 2024 |

Arm | Intervention/treatment |
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Experimental: Dabrafenib, Trametinib & Phenformin
This is a multi-institution single-arm phase I trial with an expansion cohort at the MTD of Phenformin, in patients with metastatic BRAFV600E/K mutated melanoma. In the dose escalation phase, cohorts of patients will be treated with standard dose Dabrafenib (150 mg PO BID) plus Trametinib (2 mg PO QD) and increasing doses of Phenformin. In the dose-escalation phase of the trial, both patients who have already been treated with a BRAF and/or MEK inhibitor, and treatment-naïve patients will be eligible. The maximally tolerated Phenformin dose was determined to be 100 mg BID. The dose-expansion cohort will enroll up to 10 patients who are treatment- naïve for BRAF inhibitor. In this cohort, patients may be treated with any of the 3 FDA-approved BRAFi/MEKi combinations: dabrafenib/trametinib, vemurafenib/cobimetinib, or encorafenib/binimetinib.
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Drug: Dabrafenib Drug: Trametinib Drug: Phenformin |
- Disease-free survival [ Time Frame: 2 years ]The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) v1.1 will be used to determine treatment response.

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
- AJCC (2009) stage IV melanoma, or stage III melanoma not curable by surgery and which is progressing or in patients whom neo-adjuvant treatment is deemed acceptable. Patients must have at least 1 target lesion measurable by RECIST 1.1 criteria.
- The melanoma must harbor an activating BRAF V600 mutation. Prior therapy with a BRAF and/or MEK inhibitor is allowed in the dose-escalation phase only. However, patients who discontinued previous RAF inhibitor due to intolerance of the drug rather than due to progression will not be eligible.
- Histologic proof of melanoma reviewed and confirmed by the treating institution. The melanoma must have a documented BRAFV600E or BRAFV600K mutation by genotyping or IHC12 performed by a CLIA certified laboratory. At MSK, the Diagnostic Molecular Pathology laboratory has developed and implemented a targeted capture-based next-generation DNA sequencing assay, MSK-IMPACTTM, to profile all protein-coding exons and selected introns from 410 oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissues (Cheng, D.T., et al., J Mol Diagn, 2015. 17(3): p. 251-64). MSK-IMPACTTM has been approved by the NY State Department of Health to be run as a clinical assay in the CLIA-compliant Diagnostic Molecular Pathology laboratory. MSK-IMPACTTM is capable of detecting mutations, copy number alterations, and structural variations. BRAF Exon15 was captured by the MSK-IMPACTTM panel and the c.1799T>A (p.V600E) mutation was fully validated as per NYS requirements. Detailed results of the validation of this mutation were included in the validation package submitted to NY State Department of Health.
- At MGH, samples will be tested using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology called Anchored Multiplex PCR (AMP) for single nucleotide variant (SNV) and insertion/deletion (indel) detection in genomic DNA using next generation sequencing (NGS). Briefly, genomic DNA was isolated from a formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tumor specimen is sheared with the Covaris M220 instrument, followed by end-repair, adenylation, and ligation with an adapter. A sequencing library targeting hotspots and exons in 39 genes (including BRAF, exons 11 and 15) is generated using two hemi-nested PCR reactions. Illumina MiSeq 2 x 147 base paired-end sequencing results are aligned to the hg19 human genome reference using BWA-MEM (Li H and Durbin R. Bioinformatics 2009;25(14):1754-60). MuTect (Cibulskis K, et al. Nat Biotechnol 2013;31(3):213-9) and a laboratory-developed insertion/deletion analysis algorithm are used for SNV and indel variant detection, respectively. This assay has been validated to detect SNV and indel variants at 5% allelic frequency or higher in target regions with sufficient read coverage. This test was developed, and its performance characteristics were determined by the MGH Center for Integrated Diagnostics.
- Patients must be adequately recovered from surgery, radiation therapy, or any surgical complications prior to enrollment.
- Age ≥ 18 years old.
- ECOG performance status of 0-2.
- The ability to swallow pills and otherwise follow the protocol.
- Patients with treated CNS metastases will be eligible if not symptomatic the CNS disease has been stable for a minium of 6 weeks and the patient requires less than or equal to the equivalent of 2 mg/day of dexamethasone.
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Patients must have adequate organ and marrow function as defined below:
- Absolute Neutrophil Count ≥1.5 K/mcL
- Platelets ≥100 K/mcL
- Hemoglobin ≥ 9.0 g/dL
- Total Bilirubin ≤ 1.2 X institutional upper limit of normal (ULN) or ≤ 3.0 X institutional ULN if the patient has Gilbert's Syndrome
- AST (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT) ≤ 1.2 X institutional upper limit of normal (ULN)
- Creatinine ≤ 1.4 mg/dl
Exclusion Criteria:
- Type I or Type II diabetes
- A history of renal failure (unless recovered for at least 6 months), lactic acidosis, recurrent or severe hypoglycemia, or significant chronic obstructive lung disease. Patients will not be excluded for reversible episodes of elevated creatinine due to hypovolemia.
- Acute or chronic liver or renal disease.
- Concurrent use of hypoglycemic agents or any systemic therapy for melanoma. Palliative limited-field radiation therapy will be allowed
- Current use of a prohibited medication.
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Vemurafenib
- Avoid inducers and inhibitors of CYP3A4
- Careful with drugs metabolized by CTP1A2 (Clozapam, olanzapine, fluvoxamine, haloperidol, theophylline, caffeine).
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Encorafenib
- Avoid inducers and inhibitors of CYP3A4
- Avoid drugs that increase QTc interval
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Dabrafenib
- Avoid inducers and inhibitors of CYP3A4 or CYP2CA8 (Refer to Appendix C for specific drugs).
- Presence of conditions that will interfere significantly with the absorption of drugs.
- A history of known glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency.
- Pregnant and/or lactating women
- A prior or concurrent metastatic second malignancy within 3 years, even if it does not require active therapy. For example, patients with concomitant indolent B-cell malignancies will not be eligible. Patients with a prior resected in-situ or stage I malignancy felt to be cured will be eligible.
- Other uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, ongoing or active infection, symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia, or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements. New York Heart Association class ≥2 will be an exclusion criterion.
- QTc interval > 500 msec unless a bundle branch block is also present.
- Patients with brain metastases unless they meet the criteria of section 6.1.8.
- Patients currently receiving other anti-melanoma treatment. Toxicities attributable to any prior therapy must have resolved to grade 1 or better prior to enrollment. Grade 2 endocrinopathies, except diabetes, that are ongoing from prior immunotherapy will not exclude the patient as long as the patient is on appropriate replacement doses of hormone.
- Patients receiving steroid treatment exceeding replacement dosing
- In the dose expansion phase of the trial, prior treatment with a BRAF inhibitor will be an exclusion criterion. This includes prior adjuvant dabrafenib/trametinib.
Inclusion of Women and Minorities:
- Both men and women, and members of all races and ethnic groups are eligible for this trial.

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT03026517
United States, Massachusetts | |
Massachusetts General Hospital | |
Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114 | |
United States, New York | |
Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester | |
Harrison, New York, United States, 10604 | |
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | |
New York, New York, United States, 10065 |
Principal Investigator: | Paul Chapman, MD | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
Responsible Party: | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT03026517 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
15-318 |
First Posted: | January 20, 2017 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | June 21, 2022 |
Last Verified: | June 2022 |
Phenformin Dabrafenib Trametinib BRAF/MEKi 15-318 |
Melanoma Nevi and Melanomas Phenformin Neuroendocrine Tumors Neuroectodermal Tumors Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal Neoplasms by Histologic Type Neoplasms Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue |
Trametinib Dabrafenib Antineoplastic Agents Protein Kinase Inhibitors Enzyme Inhibitors Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action Hypoglycemic Agents Physiological Effects of Drugs |