This is a multicenter, open-label, randomized phase III study to investigate whether therapeutic vaccination with IMA901, a mult-peptide cancer vaccine (TUMAP), can prolong overall survival in patients with metastatic and/or locally advanced RCC when added to standard first-line therapy with sunitinib (primary endpoint).~Secondary endpoints include a subgroup analysis of overall survival in patients who are positive for a prospectively defined primary biomarker signature (identified as being predictive for improved clinical outcome in IMA901-vaccinated patients in the previous phase II study), progression-free survival (PFS), best overall response, cellular immunomonitoring in a subset of patients, and safety. Safety analysis will be based on adverse events (AEs), physical examinations, vital signs, hematology, clinical chemistry, urinalysis and ECG changes.~Further endpoints include subgroup analyses of overall survival in patients who are positive for further prospectively defined biomarkers (identified in the previous phase II study), and exploratory screening of new biomarkers (to be investigated in patients' blood and paraffin sections from tumor tissue) to predict better clinical outcome as response to vaccination with IMA901. Biomarker sets will not be used for patient selection in this study.
The primary objective of the phase III study is to investigate whether IMA901 can prolong overall survival in patients with metastatic and/or locally advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) when added to standard first-line therapy with sunitinib.~Secondary objectives include a subgroup analysis of overall survival in patients defined by a certain biomarker signature, the investigation of progression-free survival, best tumor response, safety, and immunological parameters.