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NCT Number: NCT07805122

Intensified Monitoring of PhArmacology of Cabozantinib as a Tool for Toxicity Management in Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma

Adverse events (AEs) with Cabozantinib are frequent (about 40-67% of patients) and often lead to temporary treatment interruptions, dose reductions or permanent discontinuations, potentially reducing dose intensity and sustained exposure. Therefore, strategies are needed to improve tolerability without compromising antitumor activity. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is particularly suitable for drugs with high interpatient variability, narrow therapeutic windows and defined exposure-response relationships; real world data support this profile for Cabozantinib and suggest that pharmacokinetically guided dosing could help manage toxicity while maintaining efficacy. Based on this evidence, the study proposes a model of individualized pharmacological counselling integrating TDM, pharmacogenetic testing and structured evaluation of pharmacological interactions to optimize Cabozantinib exposure and minimize avoidable toxicity.

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Key information

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, CRO-IRCCS

Aviano, Pordenone, 33081, Italy

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

Erika Cecchin, PhD, PharmD

CONTACT

[email protected]

0434659667

Erika Cecchin, PhD, PharmD

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Lucia Fratino, MD

SUB_INVESTIGATOR

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

for the intervention group:

  • Patients diagnosed with histologically confirmed advanced/metastatic RCC with predominantly clear cell subtype.
  • Advanced (not amenable to curative surgery or radiation therapy) or metastatic (AJCC Stage IV) RCC, candidate to receive systemic treatment with nivolumab + Cabozantinib or Cabozantinib monotherapy as per clinical practice (investigators choice).
  • Signed Written Informed Consent.
  • Male or female subjects aged ≥18 years old.
  • Women of childbearing potential must avoid pregnancy while on Cabozantinib. Female partners of male patients taking Cabozantinib must also avoid pregnancy. Effective methods of contraception should be used by male and female patients and their partners during therapy, and for at least 4 months after completing therapy. Because oral contraceptives might possibly not be considered as "effective methods of contraception", due to factors such as missed doses, gastrointestinal disturbances, or potential drug interactions that could reduce their effectiveness, they should be used together with another method, such as a barrier method.
  • Previous nephrectomy is permitted.
  • All IMDC (International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium) risk (good, intermediate, poor).
  • Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0 or 1
  • Capable of understanding and complying with the protocol requirements.
  • patients will be included in the study regardless of their time of treatment start with Cabozantinib and regardless of their concomitant diseases or co-medication.

Exclusion criteria

for intervention group:

  • Patients with non-renal cell neoplasms of the kidney (e.g. urothelial, sarcoma, lymphoma).
  • Diagnosis of any non-RCC malignancy occurring within 2 years prior to the date of the start of treatment except for adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, or carcinoma in situ of the breast or of the cervix or low-grade prostate cancer (≤pT2, N0; Gleason 6) with no plans for treatment intervention.
  • Pregnancy status.
  • Refusal of informed consent.
  • Patients who could not attend periodic clinical check-ups.
  • Any condition that, in the investigator's judgment, could compromise appropriate participation in the study.

Inclusion criteria

for the historical control group:

  • Patients diagnosed with histologically confirmed advanced/metastatic RCC with predominantly clear cell subtype.
  • Advanced (not amenable to curative surgery or radiation therapy) or metastatic (AJCC Stage IV) RCC, candidate to receive systemic treatment with nivolumab + Cabozantinib or Cabozantinib monotherapy as per clinical practice (investigators choice).

Exclusion criteria

for the historical control group:

  • Patients with non-renal cell neoplasms of the kidney (e.g. urothelial, sarcoma, lymphoma).
  • Diagnosis of any non-RCC malignancy occurring within 2 years prior to the date of the start of treatment except for adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, or carcinoma in situ of the breast or of the cervix or low-grade prostate cancer (≤pT2, N0; Gleason 6) with no plans for treatment intervention.

Treatment and study plan

Intensified Monitoring of Pharmacology

Other

individualized pharmacological counselling integrating TDM, pharmacogenetic testing and structured evaluation of pharmacological interactions

Primary outcomes

  1. Impact of the systematic pharmacological counseling activity intervention on Cabozantinib related toxicity

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    The impact will be evaluated as the overall change of the frequency of treatment interruptions due to clinically relevant toxicity in RCC (Renal cell carcinoma) patients treated with Cabozantinib, compared to historical data.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Attitude Towards Pharmacological Counseling Among Oncologists

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Rate of adherence to pharmacological counseling recommendations.

  2. Validate LC-MS/MS methods for Cabozantinib quantification in plasma and dried blood spot (Capitainer B and Hemaxis) in terms of accuracy

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Accuracy will be evaluated as difference between results obtained by the method to the nominal concentration of the analyte in the biological matrix

  3. Validate LC-MS/MS methods for Cabozantinib quantification in plasma and dried blood spot (Capitainer B and Hemaxis) in terms of precision

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Precision will be evaluated as Coefficient of Variation (CV) calculated as standard deviation/mean values

  4. Validate LC-MS/MS methods for Cabozantinib quantification in plasma and dried blood spot (Capitainer B and Hemaxis) in terms of linearity

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Linearity will be evaluated using squared R to assess the goodness of fit of the calibration curve

  5. Explore accuracy of a point-of-care testing (POCT) device for Cabozantinib TDM.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Accuracy will be evaluated as difference between results obtained by the method to the nominal concentration of the analyte in the biological matrix

  6. Explore precision of a point-of-care testing (POCT) device for Cabozantinib TDM.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Precision will be evaluated as Coefficient of Variation (CV) calculated as standard deviation/mean values

  7. Explore the linearity of a point-of-care testing (POCT) device for Cabozantinib TDM.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Linearity will be evaluated using squared R to assess the goodness of fit of the calibration curve

  8. Explore comparability of a a point-of-care testing (POCT) device for Cabozantinib TDM with LC-MS method

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Comparability will be evalueted with Bland Altman analysis.

  9. Characterization of the Exposure-Toxicity Relationship

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Sensitivity and specificity of Cmin cut-off values for predicting adverse events.

  10. Assess associations between germline polymorphisms in genes related to Cabozantinib pharmacokinetics and drug exposure levels

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Mean/median Cmin difference according to genetic variants;

  11. Assess associations between germline polymorphisms in genes related to Cabozantinib pharmacokinetics and treatment-related toxicities.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Incidence/severity of treatment-related adverse events according to genetic variants.

  12. Investigate the association between inflammatory biomarkers (CRP, IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN-γ) and Cabozantinib exposure

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Mean/median Cmin difference according to inflammatory marker levels;

  13. Investigate the association between inflammatory biomarkers (CRP, IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN-γ) and Cabozantinib adverse events.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    inflammatory marker levels according to incidence/severity of adverse events.

  14. Measure ctDNA levels via shallow whole-genome sequencing (liquid biopsy) as a tool for monitoring disease response.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Mean/median values over time; Mean/median difference in ctDNA levels according to disease progression/response

  15. Explore molecular biomarker expression patterns in patients starting Cabozantinib therapy for future stratification of toxicity risk.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Absolute and relative frequencies

  16. Assess the feasibility of model-based therapeutic drug monitoring and compare it to the traditional log-linear extrapolation method for estimating Cabozantinib Cmin.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Predictive performance of model-based vs. log-linear extrapolation TDM approaches.

  17. Evaluate influence of covariates (sex, inflammation, genetic polymorphisms) on Cabozantinib PK.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Linear regression coefficient with relative 95% CI.

  18. develop a PK/PD model describing the exposure-response and exposure-toxicity relationships for Cabozantinib.

    Time frame: up to 48 months

    Linear regression coefficient with relative 95% CI.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Erika Cecchin, PhD, PharmD

CONTACT

[email protected]

0434659667

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Centro di Riferimento Oncologico - Aviano

Other

Registry information

Acronym: IMPACT

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2030
Study completion
2030
First posted
Sep 4, 2026
Registry last updated
Sep 4, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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