ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT01242930Updated Jun 17, 2026

Open Label Study With Imetelstat to Determine Effect of Imetelstat in Patients w/ Previously Treated Multiple Myeloma

A Phase 2 interventional study of Imetelstat (7.5 mg/kg) and lenalidomide standard of care in Multiple Myeloma, sponsored by Geron Corporation. Completed at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-17.

Sponsored by Geron Corporation · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
13
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is an open label Phase II study to determine the rate of improvement in response of patients with previously treated multiple myeloma to imetelstat alone or in combination with lenalidomide maintenance therapy. This study will include multiple myeloma patients who either have achieved disease stabilization or who have achieved at least a partial response (PR) but failed to achieve a complete response (CR) after cytoreductive therapy for multiple myeloma; ie, have detectable but non-progressing disease and will most likely relapse.

02

Conditions studied

  • Multiple Myeloma

Keywords

  • imetelstat
  • imetelstat sodium
  • GRN163L
  • telomerase inhibitor
  • telomerase inhibition
  • multiple myeloma
  • myeloma
  • myeloma progenitor cells
03

In context

Multiple Myeloma

3,760 studies on the registry are indexed under Multiple Myeloma; 769 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 13 is below the median of 41 across 3,005 interventional studies indexed under Multiple Myeloma.

Browse Multiple Myeloma studies →

Lead sponsor

Geron Corporation is the lead sponsor of 16 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

Willing and able to sign an Male or female, 18 years or older Confirmed diagnosis of multiple myeloma (secretory disease) by International Myeloma Working Group Diagnostic Criteria

Patients must meet one of the following criteria:

o Previously treated patients with multiple myeloma who achieved at least stable disease but who have failed to achieve a complete response (CR) after a minimum of one cytoreductive therapy for multiple myeloma and have detectable but non-progressing disease. Patients must have received at least one proteasome inhibitor (eg, bortezomib) or one immunomodulatory agent (eg, thalidomide or lenalidomide) or both.

Patients receiving lenalidomide as maintenance therapy may continue to receive this therapy provided that the patient has been on this maintenance therapy for a minimum of 3 months and has evidence of disease stabilization.

Disease stabilization will be defined as an M protein that varies ≤ 25% over the three measurements or remains under 0.5 g/dL whichever is smaller.

performance status 0-2 ≥ 3 months

Laboratory criteria (within 14 days of first study drug administration):

  • ≥ 1000/μL
  • count ≥ 50 x 103/μL (without transfusion support within 2 weeks prior to first study drug administration)
  • ≥ 8.0 g/dL
  • Serum creatinine ≤ 3 x the (ULN)
  • (SGOT) and ALT (SGPT) ≤ 2.5 x the upper limit of normal (ULN), unless due to disease.

Must have fully recovered from any previous cancer treatments and/or major surgery.

Women of must have a negative serum pregnancy test and agree to use effective (two reliable forms of contraception) during and for at least 12 weeks after the last treatment.

Males must agree to use effective birth control for themselves or their partner during and for 12 weeks after the last treatment with imetelstat. For those patients receiving lenolidomide, males must use latex condom during sexual contact with women of childbearing potential even if they have undergone a successful vasectomy.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Women who are pregnant or breast feeding Prior radioimmunotherapy. Known intracranial disease or epidural disease. Patients with lytic lesions of the cranium or spine secondary to myeloma are eligible to enroll.

cardiovascular disease or condition including:

  • Congestive heart failure (CHF) requiring therapy
  • Need for antiarrhythmic therapy for a ventricular arrhythmia
  • Severe conduction disturbance
  • Angina pectoris requiring therapy
  • Uncontrolled hypertension per the Investigator's discretion
  • Class II, III, or IV cardiovascular disease Active or chronically recurrent bleeding (eg, active peptic ulcer disease) Clinically relevant active infection. Serious co-morbid medical conditions, including cirrhosis and chronic obstructive or chronic restrictive pulmonary disease.

Symptomatic hyperviscosity syndrome. Any other cancer therapy including chemotherapy, monoclonal antibody, signal transduction inhibitor, immunotherapy, (except topical or as premedication), thalidomide within 3 weeks prior to first study drug administration.

therapy within 4 weeks prior to first study drug administration.

Major surgery within 4 weeks prior to first study drug administration (central line placement is allowed) Anti- therapy within 2 weeks prior to first study drug administration, other than low dose aspirin prophylaxis therapy.

Full dose anticoagulation. Prophylactic low dose administration for management of IV access devices is allowed.

Known positive serology for (HIV. Any other severe, acute, or chronic medical or psychiatric condition, laboratory abnormality, or difficulty complying with protocol requirements that may increase the risk associated with study participation or study drug administration or may interfere with the interpretation of study results and, in the judgment of the investigator, would make the patient inappropriate for this study

Terms in these criteria, in plain language(15)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
13 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Imetelstat (7.5 mg/kg)

    Imetelstat (7.5 mg/kg) with or without lenalidomide standard of care

    Drug: Imetelstat (7.5 mg/kg) · Drug: lenalidomide standard of care

  • Experimental
    Imetelstat (9.4 mg/kg)

    Imetelstat (9.4 mg/kg) with or without lenalidomide standard of care

    Drug: lenalidomide standard of care · Drug: Imetelstat (9.4 mg/kg)

Interventions

  • DrugImetelstat (7.5 mg/kg)

    Drug page: Imetelstat

    Imetelstat 7.5 mg/kg as a 2-hour intravenous infusion (± 10 minutes) on Days 1 and 8 of a 28-day cycle; the Day 8 dose will be omitted in patients with a prior history of bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

    Also known as: GRN163L

  • Patients who are receiving lenalidomide as maintenance therapy upon enrollment as part of their treatment regimen may remain on this therapy during trial participation, provided that they have received this treatment for a minimum of 3 months and demonstrate evidence of stabilization of their response.

    Also known as: Revlimid

  • DrugImetelstat (9.4 mg/kg)

    Drug page: Imetelstat

    Imetelstat 9.4 mg/kg as a 2-hour intravenous infusion (± 10 minutes) on Days 1 and 8 of a 28-day cycle; the Day 8 dose will be omitted in patients with a prior history of bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

    Also known as: GRN163L

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Rate of Improvement in Response

    To determine the rate of improvement in response in patients with previously treated multiple myeloma following treatment with imetelstat alone or in combination wtih lenalidomide maintenance therapy. Response will be assessed using the International Uniform Response Criteria for Multiple Myeloma (IURCMM).

    Time frame: From time of first dose (Cycle 1 day 1) through end of study period (12 mos. after last participant is enrolled)

Secondary outcomes

  1. Progression-free Survival (PFS)

    As assessed from Cycle 1 Day 1 to first evidence of PD as defined by IURCMM, or death, whichever occurs first.

    Time frame: From time of first dose (Cycle 1 day 1) through end of study (12 mos. after last participant is enrolled)

  2. Safety and Tolerability

    The safety and tolerability of imetelstat will be assessed by the incidence, nature, relatedness and severity of adverse events, laboratory abnormalities and vital signs. Patients who develop Grade 3 or 4 cytopenias (other than lyphophenia and/or leukopenia alon) will receive addiontal safety monitoring for reversibility.

    Time frame: From time of first dose (Cycle 1 day 1) through end of study (12 mos. after last participant is enrolled)

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • University of Maryland Medical Center - M & S Greenebaum Cancer Center
    Baltimore, Maryland 21201, United States
  • Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center Johns Hopkins Hospital
    Baltimore, Maryland 21231, United States
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 17, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT01242930
Lead sponsor
Geron Corporation
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Nov 17, 2010
Start date
Nov 2010
Primary completion
Nov 2014
Completion
Nov 2014
Last update
Jun 17, 2026

Study contacts

Joe Eid
study director · Geron Corporation
Carol Ann Huff, M.D.
principal investigator · Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Studies of the drug tested here: Imetelstat

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