Benzinga | Jul 20, 2020 08:13AM EDT

Exelixis Announces Initiation of CONTACT-03 Phase 3 Pivotal Trial of Cabozantinib in Combination With Atezolizumab in Previously Treated Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) today announced the initiation of CONTACT-03, a global phase 3 pivotal trial of cabozantinib (CABOMETYX(r)) in combination with atezolizumab (TECENTRIQ(r)) in patients with inoperable, locally advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who progressed during or following treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor as the immediate preceding therapy. CONTACT-03 is part of a clinical trial collaboration between Exelixis and Roche that includes two additional phase 3 pivotal trials -- CONTACT-01 in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have been previously treated with an immune checkpoint inhibitor and platinum-containing chemotherapy and CONTACT-02 in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who have been previously treated with one novel hormonal therapy -- both initiated in June 2020.

"The treatment landscape for metastatic kidney cancer is rapidly evolving as the use of immune checkpoint inhibitor-based regimens move to earlier lines of therapy," said Gisela Schwab, M.D., President, Product Development and Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, Exelixis. "More data are needed to better understand the sequential use of treatments for this patient community, and we look forward to learning more about the potential role of the combination of cabozantinib and atezolizumab following checkpoint inhibitor therapy in this pivotal trial with our partner Roche."

CONTACT-03 is a global, multicenter, randomized, phase 3, open-label study that aims to enroll approximately 500 patients. Patients will be randomized 1:1 to the experimental arm of cabozantinib in combination with atezolizumab or the control arm of cabozantinib alone. The co-primary endpoints of the trial are progression-free survival per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) v. 1.1 as assessed by independent review and overall survival. Secondary endpoints include progression-free survival, objective response rate and duration of response as assessed by the investigators. The CONTACT-03 trial is sponsored by Roche and co-funded by Exelixis.

The design of CONTACT-03 was informed by the ongoing COSMIC-021 trial -- a phase 1b study of cabozantinib in combination with atezolizumab in multiple advanced solid tumors including RCC, NSCLC and CRPC. More information about CONTACT-03 is available at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04338269).