Brussels - Our Metro-PD1 trial for children with solid tumours has reached its second stage, after the first one was successfully completed. Phase 2 will take place in Belgium and France and is now open for participation.

Metro-PD1 is a study designed for children and teenagers between 4 and 18 years old with refractory or relapsing cancer. The study looks at three existing chemotherapy drugs, which are given in a lower dose and over a longer period of time, with or without nivolumab.

There’s a high need to find new treatment options for children with solid cancers because 1 in 3 suffer from recurrence after 5 years. Moreover, solid tumours represent 30% of all paediatric cancers.

The Metro-PD1 trial studies the combination of immunotherapy (nivolumab) with low-dose chemotherapy. In the first stage of the trial, which was completed in November 2020, the combination of three metronomic chemotherapies (cyclophosphamide, vinblastine, capecitabine) together with nivolumab was tested in a stepwise approach and deemed feasible and safe. Metronomic chemotherapy consists of lower doses of chemotherapy that are given more frequently.

The second stage of the trial will take place in Belgium and France and is now open for participation.

86 children or teenagers will receive:

• the metronomic chemotherapy as described above
  or
• the metronomic chemotherapy combined with the anti-PD1 agent nivolumab

The Anticancer Fund supports this trial as we feel the urge to compensate the lack of investment in new cancer treatments for children.

This trial was financed in collaboration with KickCancer and Alexine Clarysse Fonds, two Belgian non-profit-organisations dedicated to research in paediatric oncology.

More information about the clinical trial here.