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Adjuvant IP-001 Treatment for HCC Patients Following Surgical Resection and Ablation or Ablation Alone

  • PhasePhase 2
  • StatusRecruiting
  • Planned enrollment315 people
  • Recruiting US sites1
  • SponsorRobert C. Martin
  • RegistryNCT06526338

Recruitment re-checked on ClinicalTrials.gov Oct 30, 2026. Public record; not medical advice.

Adjuvant IP-001 Treatment for HCC Patients Following Surgical Resection and Ablation or Ablation Alone: a one-minute explainerNCT065263381 min

Eligibility

Who can join

The film gives the main points. The full list below is copied from the registry; the study team makes the final decision.

  • Age18 Years to no maximum
  • SexAll
  • Healthy volunteersNo

You may be able to join if

  • Age ≥ 18 years at time of signing Informed Consent.
  • Has a diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) documented radiologically by American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) criteria and/or histopathologically from a tumor biopsy.
  • Has a treatment plan to receive a curative ablation (MWA only) or a curative surgical resection and ablation, or where the patient may benefit from surgery and ablation or ablation prior to receiving anti-cancer therapy.
  • Has HCC with intermediate, high or very high risk of recurrence.
  • Has hepatic only HCC (disease confined to the liver only), defined by no extra-hepatic lesions greater than 1 cm in size.
  • Has an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-1.
  • Patient with past or ongoing hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection will be eligible if the patient has completed HCV treatment at least 1 month prior to Day 1.
  • Patient with controlled hepatitis B will be eligible if the patient meets the following criteria:
  • Antiviral therapy for hepatitis B virus (HBV) must be given for at least 4 weeks, and HBV viral load must be less than 500 IU/mL prior to treatment. Patients on active HBV therapy with viral loads under 500 IU/mL should stay on the same therapy throughout study treatment.
  • Patients who are hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) positive, negative for HBsAg, and negative or positive for anti- HBs, and who have an HBV viral load under 500 IU/mL do not require HBV anti-viral prophylaxis.
  • Patients who are not exposed to unreasonable risks by continued use of the investigational agent in spite of progression of disease. Such criteria may include the following:
  • Absence of symptoms and signs indicating clinically significant progression of disease.
  • No decline in performance status, as measured by ECOG or Karnofsky or both.
  • Absence of symptomatic rapid disease progression requiring urgent medical intervention.
  • Ensure that patients are reconsenting to treatment with the Informed Consent clearly stating that retreatment is not standard of care.
  • Has adequate organ function as specified in the Adequate Organ Function Laboratory Values Table. Specimens must be collected within 14 days prior to Day 1.
  • Hematological: Absolute neutrophil count ≥1500/µL or ANC of ≤1500/µL if there is a stable medical history of neutropenia per provider discretion; Platelets ≥40,000/µL; Hemoglobin ≥8.0 g/dL.
  • Renal: Creatinine OR measured or calculated creatinine clearance (GFR can also be used in place of creatinine or CrCl) ≤1.5 × ULN OR GFR ≥30 mL/min for patients with creatinine levels >1.5 × institutional ULN
  • Hepatic: Total bilirubin ≤2 mg/dL OR direct bilirubin ≤ULN for patients with total bilirubin levels >2 mg/dL; AST (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT) ≤5 × ULN; Albumin (c) >2.6 g/dL
  • Coagulation: International normalized ratio (INR) OR prothrombin time (PT) ≤1.5 × ULN unless patient is receiving anticoagulant therapy as long as PT is within therapeutic range of intended use of anticoagulants
  • Retreatment Inclusion Criteria:
  • Patients receiving retreatment with IP-001 following intrahepatic recurrence must satisfy all of the following:
  • Radiographic recurrence remains amenable to curative-intent thermal ablation.
  • No symptomatic rapid disease progression requiring urgent systemic therapy or palliative intervention.
  • ECOG performance status remains 0-2.
  • No evidence of clinically significant hepatic decompensation.
  • No extrahepatic disease that would preclude additional local therapy.
  • The Investigator determines that additional thermal ablation remains clinically appropriate.
  • The patient continues to satisfy protocol safety requirements.

You cannot join if

  • Known allergic reaction to shellfish, crabs, crustacean, or any trial components used in trial treatment.
  • Has an active infection requiring systemic therapy.
  • Has a diagnosis of immunodeficiency or currently receiving chronic systemic steroid therapy (in dosing exceeding 10 mg daily of prednisone equivalent), or any other form of immunosuppressive therapy within 7 days prior to treatment day (Day 1), or has plans to start treatment including >10 mg daily of prednisone equivalent or any immunotherapy.
  • Has an active autoimmune disease that has required systemic treatment in the past 2 years (i.e., with use of disease modifying agents or immunosuppressive drugs). NOTE: replacement therapy (e.g., thyroxine or insulin) is not considered a form of systemic treatment and is allowed.
  • Has had an allogeneic tissue/solid organ transplant, or eligible for a liver transplant and/or on the liver transplantation waiting list.
  • History of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, organizing pneumonia (e.g., bronchiolitis obliterans), drug-induced pneumonitis, active tuberculosis, or idiopathic pneumonitis.
  • Has received local therapy to the liver, ablation other than microwave ablation (i.e., alcohol ablation, transcatheter chemoembolization, transcatheter embolization, hepatic arterial infusion, local radiation/Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy or radioembolization) less than 3 months prior to treatment.
  • Is receiving any of the following prohibited concomitant therapies less than 21 days from treatment or 5 drug elimination half-lives, whichever is shorter, prior to randomization:
  • Antineoplastic systemic chemotherapy or biological therapy.
  • Immunotherapy not specified in this protocol.
  • Systemic glucocorticoids for any purpose other than to modulate symptoms from an adverse event (AE) that is suspected to have an immunologic etiology. Inhaled or topical steroids are allowed, and systemic steroids at doses ≤10 mg/day prednisone or equivalent are allowed. Exception: steroids may be used for premedication prior to imaging.
  • Has received a live vaccine within 28 days prior to treatment Day 1.
  • Retreatment Exclusion Criteria:
  • Development of symptomatic extrahepatic disease.
  • ECOG >2 attributable to cancer progression.
  • Rapid multifocal progression requiring systemic therapy.
  • Investigator determination that further local therapy is unlikely to provide meaningful clinical benefit.
  • Withdrawal of consent.

The treatment

How it is intended to work

This is how the treatment is meant to work. Whether it helps, and how safe it is, is what this trial is testing.

N-dihydrogalactochitosan. A carbohyrate polymer in which galactose molecules are attached to the amino groups of the glucosamine polymer chitosan, with potential imunostimulating activity. After a tumor ablation and upon intratumoral injection directly into the location of the ablated tumor, N-dihydrogalactochitosan may trigger a tumor-specific systemic immune response when exposed to tumor-associated neoantigens that are liberated by tumor ablation. This may kill tumor cells. NCI Drug Dictionary

Treatments listed in the registry

  • 1.0% IP-001 for injection (Drug): Participants will receive intratumoral injection of 1.0% IP-001 following local microwave ablation or surgical resection and local microwave ablation
  • Surgical Resection and Local Ablation (Procedure): Participants will undergo surgical resection of the tumor and local microwave ablation
  • Local Ablation Alone (Procedure): Participants will have local ablation of the tumor by microwave ablation alone

The study

Treatment groups

Randomized · Parallel · masking: Single

Arm A: Participants with ≤3 hepatic tumors that can be treated in one ablation session (Experimental)

Participants will be randomized 1:1:1 to receive intratumoral injection of IP-001 (10 mg/mL, 4 mL [low volume]) immediately following local microwave ablation or surgical resection and local microwave ablation

Arm B: Participants with ≤3 hepatic tumors that can be treated in one ablation session (Active Comparator)

Participants will be randomized 1:1:1 to receive local microwave ablation or surgical resection and local microwave ablation alone

Arm C: Participants with ≤3 hepatic tumors that can be treated in one ablation session (Experimental)

Participants will be randomized 1:1:1 to receive intratumoral injection of IP-001 (10 mg/mL, up to 12 mL [high volume]) immediately following local microwave ablation or surgical resection and local microwave ablation

Arm D: Participants with >3 hepatic tumors that can be treated in more than one ablation session (Experimental)

Participants will be randomized 1:1 to receive intratumoral injection of IP-001 (10mg/mL [high concentration], up to 12 mL) immediately following local microwave ablation or surgical resection and local microwave ablation

Arm E: Participants with >3 hepatic tumors that can be treated in more than one ablation session (Experimental)

Participants will be randomized 1:1 to receive intratumoral injection of diluted IP-001 (1 mg/mL [low concentration], up to 12 mL) immediately following local microwave ablation or surgical resection and local microwave ablation

What it involves

Procedures

As the registry describes them. Requirements to join, such as a tissue sample, are in the eligibility list above even when on-study procedures are optional. Ask the study team which steps apply to you.

  • surgery: Part of the study plan

Goals

What the study measures

Main goals

  • Recurrence Free Survival (From Date of Randomization until date of documented progression, assessed up to 60 months)

Other goals

  • Cancer Free Survival
  • Overall Survival
  • Overall Survival Rate
  • Recurrence Free Survival Rate
  • Time to Intrahepatic Tumor Recurrence
  • Time to Extrahepatic Tumor Recurrence

Planned enrollment: 315 (estimated).

Where

Recruiting US sites

  • University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky

Site status as of Oct 30, 2026. Check the live record before contacting a site.

Sources

Where this comes from

Registry record reviewed as fetched Oct 30, 2026, last updated by the sponsor Sep 3, 2026. Public record; not medical advice.

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