Safety and Efficacy Study of Pemetrexed + Platinum Chemotherapy + Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) With or Without Lenvatinib (MK-7902/E7080) as First-line Intervention in Adults With Metastatic Nonsquamous Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (MK-7902-006/E7080-G000-315/LEAP-006)
Nonsquamous Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Nonsquamous Non-small Cell Lung Cancer focused on measuring programmed cell death 1 (PD-1, PD1), programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1, PDL1), programmed cell death-ligand 2 (PD-L2, PDL2)
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Histologically or cytologically confirmed diagnosis of Stage IV (American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC], nonsquamous NSCLC.
- Confirmation that Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), ALK Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (ALK), or ROS1 Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (ROS1)-directed therapy is not indicated as primary treatment (documentation of absence of tumor-activating EGFR mutations AND absence of ALK and ROS1 gene rearrangements OR presence of a Kirsten Rat Sarcoma (KRAS) gene mutation).
- Have measurable disease based on RECIST 1.1. Note: Lesions that appear measurable, but are situated in a previously irradiated area, can be considered measurable (eligible for selection as target lesions) if they have shown documented growth since the completion of radiation.
- Provided an archival tumor tissue sample or newly obtained core or excisional biopsy of a tumor lesion (not previously irradiated).
- Life expectancy of at least 3 months.
- Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0 or 1 within 7 days prior to the first dose of study intervention but before randomization.
- Contraceptive use by men should be consistent with local regulations regarding the methods of contraception for those participating in clinical studies. If the contraception requirements in the local label for any of the study interventions is more stringent than the requirements above, the local label requirements are to be followed.
Male participants must agree for at least 7 days after the last dose of lenvatinib/matching placebo and up to 180 days after the last dose of chemotherapeutic agents to:
- Refrain from donating sperm PLUS either:
- Be abstinence from heterosexual intercourse as their preferred and usual lifestyle (abstinent on a long term and persistent basis) and agree to remain abstinent OR
Must agree to use contraception unless confirmed to be azoopsermic (vasectomized or secondary to medical cause) as detailed below:
- Agree to use a male condom plus partner use of an additional contraceptive method when having penile-vaginal intercourse with a woman of childbearing potential (WOCBP) who is not currently pregnant Note: Men with a pregnant or breastfeeding partner must agree to remain abstinent from penile-vaginal intercourse or use a male condom during each episode of penile-vaginal penetration.
Note: 7 days after lenvatinib/matching placebo is stopped, if the participant is on pembrolizumab only and is greater than 180 days post chemotherapy, no male contraception measures are needed.
- Contraceptive use by women should be consistent with local regulations regarding the methods of contraception for those participating in clinical studies.
Female participant is eligible to participate if she is not pregnant or breastfeeding, and at least one of the following conditions applies:
- Is not a WOCBP OR
- Is a WOCBP and using a contraceptive method that is highly effective (with a failure rate of <1% per year), with low user dependency, or be abstinent from heterosexual intercourse as their preferred and usual lifestyle (abstinent on a long term and persistent basis), during the intervention period and for at least 120 days post pembrolizumab and/or 30 days post-lenvatinib/matching placebo, and up to 180 days post last dose of chemotherapeutic agents, whichever occurs last.
- Adequate organ function.
- Adequately controlled blood pressure (BP) with or without antihypertensive medications, defined as BP ≤150/90 mm Hg and no change in antihypertensive medications within 1 week prior to randomization. Note: Participants must not have a history of uncontrolled or poorly-controlled hypertension, defined as >150/90 mm Hg for >4 weeks despite standard medical management.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Known untreated central nervous system (CNS) metastases and/or carcinomatous meningitis. Participants with previously treated brain metastases may participate provided they are radiologically stable, clinically stable, and have not required steroids for at least 14 days prior to the first dose of study intervention.
- History of (noninfectious) pneumonitis that required systemic steroids or current pneumonitis/interstitial lung disease.
- Radiographic evidence of intratumoral caviations, encasement, or invasion of a major blood vessel. Additionally, the degree of proximity to major blood vessels should be considered for exclusion because of the potential risk of severe hemorrhage associated with tumor shrinkage/necrosis after lenvatinib-therapy. (In the chest, major blood vessels include the main pulmonary artery, the left and right pulmonary arteries, the 4 major pulmonary veins, the superior or inferior vena cava, and the aorta).
- Known history of an additional malignancy, except if the participant has undergone potentially curative therapy with no evidence of that disease recurrence for at least 3 years since initiation of that therapy. Note: The time requirement also does not apply to participants who underwent successful definitive resection of basal cell carcinoma of the skin, superficial bladder cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, in situ cervical cancer, or other in situ cancers.
- Active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e., with use of disease-modifying agents, corticosteroids, or immunosuppressive drugs). Replacement therapy (e.g., thyroxine, insulin, or physiologic corticosteroid replacement therapy for adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, etc.) is allowed.
- Diagnosis of immunodeficiency or is receiving chronic systemic steroid therapy (doses exceeding 10 mg daily of prednisone equivalent) or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior the first dose of study intervention.
- Has had allogeneic tissue/solid organ transplant.
- Known history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. HIV testing is not required unless mandated by the local health authority.
- Known history of Hepatitis B. No testing for Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C is required unless mandated by the local health authority.
- History of a gastrointestinal condition or procedure that in the opinion of the investigator may affect oral drug absorption.
- Active hemoptysis (at least 0.5 teaspoon of bright red blood) within 2 weeks prior to the first dose of study intervention.
- Significant cardiovascular impairment within 12 months prior to the first dose of study intervention, including history of congestive heart failure greater than New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident (CVA)/stroke, or cardiac arrhythmia associated with hemodynamic instability.
- Known history of active tuberculosis.
- Active infection requiring systemic therapy.
- Has not recovered adequately from any toxicity and/or complication from major surgery prior to the first dose of study intervention.
- Previously had a severe hypersensitivity reaction to treatment with a monoclonal antibody or has a known sensitivity to any component of lenvatinib or pembrolizumab, or as applicable, carboplatin, cisplatin, or pemetrexed.
- A WOCBP who has a positive urine pregnancy test within 24 hours prior to randomization or treatment allocation. If the urine test is positive or cannot be confirmed as negative, a serum pregnancy test will be required.
- Has preexisting ≥Grade 3 gastrointestinal or non-gastrointestinal fistula.
- Received prior systemic chemotherapy or other targeted or biological antineoplastic therapy for their metastatic NSCLC. Note: Prior treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiation as part of neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapy is allowed as long as therapy was completed at least 6 months prior to the diagnosis of metastatic NSCLC.
- Received prior treatment with pembrolizumab or any other anti-programmed cell death (PD)-1, anti-PD-L1, anti-PD-L2 agent, with lenvatinib or any other receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (RTKi), or with an agent directed to another stimulatory or co-inhibitory T cell receptor.
- Received radiotherapy within 14 days prior to the first dose of study intervention or received lung radiation therapy of >30 Gy within 6 months prior to the first dose of study intervention. Note: Participants must have recovered from all radiation-related toxicities to Grade ≤1, not required corticosteroids, and not have had radiation pneumonitis. A 1-week washout is permitted for palliative radiation (≤2 weeks of radiotherapy) to non-CNS disease.
- Received systemic steroid therapy (in doses exceeding 10 mg daily of prednisone equivalent) within 7 days prior to the first dose of study intervention.
- Received a live or live attenuated vaccine within 30 days prior to the first dose of study intervention. Note: killed vaccines are allowed.
- Currently participating and receiving study therapy or has participated in a study of an investigational agent and received study therapy or used an investigational device within 4 weeks prior to the first dose of study intervention.
- History or presence of an abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) that, in the investigator's opinion, is clinically meaningful.
- Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) below the institutional (or local laboratory) normal range as determined by multigated acquisition scan (MUGA) or echocardiogram (ECHO).
Sites / Locations
- El Camino Hospital Cancer Center ( Site 0529)
- Yale University ( Site 0519)
- Holy Cross Hospital ( Site 0512)
- Mercy Health-Paducah Medical Oncology and Hematology ( Site 0570)
- Henry Ford Health System ( Site 0563)
- Saint Lukes Cancer Institute ( Site 0541)
- Broome Oncology, LLC ( Site 0562)
- Sanford Health Roger Maris Cancer Center ( Site 0533)
- Stephenson Cancer Center ( Site 0504)
- Good Samaritan Hospital Corvallis ( Site 0521)
- Thomas Jefferson University Hospital ( Site 0548)
- Abington Hospital - Asplundh Cancer Center ( Site 0575)
- West Cancer Center - East Campus ( Site 0544)
- Parkland Health & Hospital System ( Site 0576)
- UT Southwestern Medical Center ( Site 0558)
- Utah Cancer Specialists ( Site 0523)
- West Virginia University ( Site 0526)
- Centro de Oncologia e Investigacion Buenos Aires COIBA ( Site 0367)
- Instituto de Investigaciones Clinicas Mar del Plata ( Site 0371)
- CEMIC ( Site 0370)
- Sanatorio Parque ( Site 0365)
- Hospital Aleman ( Site 0368)
- Instituto Medico Especializado Alexander Fleming ( Site 0369)
- CEMAIC ( Site 0374)
- CER San Juan Centro Polivalente de Asistencia e Investigacion Clinica ( Site 0372)
- Blacktown Hospital Western Sydney Local Health District ( Site 0008)
- Port Macquarie Base Hospital ( Site 0001)
- Chris OBrien Lifehouse ( Site 0006)
- Westmead Hospital ( Site 0009)
- Cairns Hospital ( Site 0002)
- The Prince Charles Hospital ( Site 0010)
- Ballarat Health Services ( Site 0003)
- Moncton Hospital - Horizon Health Network ( Site 0410)
- Juravinski Cancer Centre ( Site 0407)
- Kingston Health Sciences Centre ( Site 0414)
- Lakeridge Health ( Site 0406)
- Sault Area Hospital ( Site 0413)
- Hopital Cite de la Sante de Laval ( Site 0400)
- CIUSSS Ouest de l Ile - St-Mary s Hospital ( Site 0412)
- CIUSSS de la Mauricie et du Centre du Quebec ( Site 0408)
- CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval-Hotel Dieu de Quebec ( Site 0403)
- Centro de Investigacion y desarrollo Oncologico SpA - CIDO SpA ( Site 0380)
- Clinica Universidad Catolica del Maule ( Site 0385)
- OrlandiOncologia ( Site 0381)
- Fundacion Arturo Lopez Perez FALP ( Site 0383)
- Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile ( Site 0382)
- Bradford Hill Centro de Investigaciones Clinicas ( Site 0387)
- Oncocentro ( Site 0384)
- Centro Oncologico Antofagasta ( Site 0386)
- Peking Union Medical College Hospital ( Site 0108)
- Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Science ( Site 0117)
- Beijing Cancer Hospital ( Site 0120)
- The Second Hospital Affiliated to AMU ( Site 0119)
- First Affiliated Hospital of The Third Military Medical University ( Site 0118)
- Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital ( Site 0102)
- Southern Medical University Nanfang Hospital ( Site 0121)
- The Third Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University ( Site 0100)
- Henan Cancer Hospital ( Site 0112)
- Wuhan Union Hospital Cancer Center-Cancer Center ( Site 0123)
- Hubei Cancer Hospital ( Site 0122)
- Jilin Cancer Hospital ( Site 0115)
- Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University ( Site 0103)
- Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital ( Site 0101)
- Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital ( Site 0111)
- Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Xinjiang Medical University ( Site 0110)
- The First Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University ( Site 0109)
- Zhejiang Cancer Hospital ( Site 0113)
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University ( Site 0124)
- Centre Paul Strauss ( Site 0144)
- Hopital Nord du Marseille ( Site 0147)
- Hopital Foch ( Site 0145)
- Centre de Cancerologie du Grand Montpellier ( Site 0142)
- Hopital Laennec ( Site 0146)
- Hopital Robert Schuman ( Site 0143)
- Hopital Cardiologique Louis Pradel ( Site 0141)
- L'hopital Nord-Ouest - Centre Hospitalier de Villefranche sur Saone ( Site 0149)
- Hopital Cochin ( Site 0140)
- Klinikum Esslingen GmbH ( Site 0164)
- Krankenhaus Nordwest ( Site 0169)
- Pius Hospital Oldenburg ( Site 0170)
- Uniklinik RWTH Aachen ( Site 0160)
- Universitaetsklinikum des Saarlandes ( Site 0165)
- Krankenhaus Martha Maria Halle-Doelau ( Site 0166)
- LungenClinic Grosshansdorf GmbH ( Site 0171)
- Hamato-Onkologie Hamburg Prof. Laack und Partner ( Site 0161)
- Soroka Medical Center ( Site 0222)
- Rambam Medical Center ( Site 0223)
- Shaare Zedek Medical Center-Oncology ( Site 0229)
- Meir Medical Center ( Site 0221)
- Holy Family Hospital ( Site 0228)
- Rabin Medical Center ( Site 0224)
- Sheba Medical Center ( Site 0220)
- Sourasky Medical Center ( Site 0225)
- Shamir Medical Center-Assaf Harofeh ( Site 0227)
- National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center ( Site 0017)
- Fujita Health University Hospital ( Site 0016)
- National Cancer Center Hospital East ( Site 0024)
- Kanazawa University Hospital ( Site 0018)
- Osaka Habikino Medical Center ( Site 0020)
- Kansai Medical University Hospital ( Site 0022)
- Niigata Cancer Center Hospital ( Site 0019)
- National Cancer Center Hospital ( Site 0026)
- Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital ( Site 0015)
- The Cancer Institute Hospital of JFCR ( Site 0021)
- Wakayama Medical University Hospital ( Site 0025)
- Chungbuk National University Hospital ( Site 0062)
- National Cancer Center ( Site 0061)
- The Catholic University of Korea St. Vincent s Hospital ( Site 0064)
- Severance Hospital Yonsei University Health System ( Site 0063)
- Tauranga Hospital ( Site 0004)
- Auckland City Hospital ( Site 0011)
- Centrum Onkologii im.prof. F. Lukaszczyka w Bydgoszczy ( Site 0601)
- Wojewodzkie Wielospecjalistyczne Centrum Onkologii i Traumatologii ( Site 0613)
- Narodowy Instytut Onkologii im. Marii Sklodowskiej-Curie ( Site 0603)
- Pleszewskie Centrum Medyczne w Pleszewie Sp. z o.o. ( Site 0615)
- MED-POLONIA Sp. z o.o. ( Site 0609)
- Szpital Wojewodzki im. Mikolaja Kopernika ( Site 0602)
- Leningrad Regional Oncology Center ( Site 0271)
- Moscow Regional Oncological Dispensary ( Site 0274)
- City Clinical Hospital 1 na. NI. Pirogov ( Site 0270)
- Central Clinical Hospital with outpatient Clinic ( Site 0262)
- National Medical Research Radiology Centre ( Site 0260)
- FSAI Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre of the MoH and SD of RF ( Site 0264)
- Nizhniy Novgorod Region Oncology Dispensary ( Site 0272)
- Omsk Clinical Oncology Dispensary ( Site 0267)
- Scientific Research Oncology Institute n.a. N.N.Petrov ( Site 0269)
- First Pavlov State Medical University of Saint Petersburg-Department of Oncology ( Site 0273)
- SAHI Republican Clinical Oncological Dispensary of the MoH of RT ( Site 0261)
- ICO L Hospitalet ( Site 0234)
- Complejo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruna ( Site 0239)
- Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria ( Site 0244)
- Hospital General Universitario de Valencia ( Site 0231)
- Hospital Universitario La Fe ( Site 0233)
- Hospital General Universitario de Alicante ( Site 0240)
- Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Pau ( Site 0241)
- Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon ( Site 0237)
- Hospital Clinico San Carlos ( Site 0235)
- Hospital Universitario La Paz ( Site 0236)
- Complejo Hospitalario de Malaga ( Site 0238)
- Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet ( Site 0242)
- Cukurova Universitesi Tıp Fakultesi Balcalı Hastanesi ( Site 0314)
- Hacettepe Universitesi Tıp Fakultesi ( Site 0316)
- Ankara Universitesi Tip Fakultesi. ( Site 0317)
- Ankara Sehir Hastanesi ( Site 0323)
- Istanbul Universitesi Cerrahpasa Tip Fakultesi ( Site 0312)
- Göztepe Prof. Dr. Süleyman Yalçın Şehir Hastanesi-oncology ( Site 0310)
- Ege Universitesi Tip Fakultesi ( Site 0313)
- Inonu Universitesi Medical Fakultesi ( Site 0318)
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust ( Site 0293)
- North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust ( Site 0291)
- Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust ( Site 0280)
- St Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. ( Site 0292)
- Aberdeen Royal Infirmary ( Site 0288)
- Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust. St. James University Hospital ( Site 0276)
- Leicester Royal Infirmary ( Site 0284)
- Christie NHS Foundation Trust ( Site 0275)
- Nottingham City Hospital Campus ( Site 0287)
- The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust ( Site 0286)
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Placebo Comparator
Pemetrexed+Platinum Chemotherapy+Pembrolizumab+Lenvatinib
Pemetrexed+Platinum Chemotherapy+Pembrolizumab+Placebo
Participants receive carboplatin Area Under Curve 5 mg/mL/min (AUC5) or cisplatin 75 mg/m^2 via intravenous (IV) infusion on Day 1 of each 3-week cycle (Q3W) for 4 cycles PLUS pemetrexed 500 mg/m^2 via IV infusion Q3W for 4 cycles PLUS pembrolizumab via IV infusion Q3W for up to 35 cycles (up to 2 years) PLUS lenvatinib via oral capsule once daily for up to 2 years.
In Parts 1 and 2: Participants receive carboplatin AUC5 or cisplatin 75 mg/m^2 via IV infusion Q3W for 4 cycles PLUS pemetrexed 500 mg/m^2 via IV infusion Q3W for 4 cycles PLUS pembrolizumab via IV infusion Q3W for up to 35 cycles (up to 2 years) PLUS (Part 2 only) placebo matching lenvatinib via oral capsule once daily for up to 2 years.