ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03774446Updated Oct 16, 2026

Multicenter Study of Seliciclib (R-roscovitine) for Cushing Disease

A Phase 2 interventional study of Seliciclib in Cushing Disease, sponsored by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-16.

Sponsored by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Updated Oct 16, 2026Now CompletedPrimary completion moved+2 moreGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
5
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This phase 2 multicenter, open-label clinical trial will evaluate safety and efficacy of 4 weeks of oral seliciclib in patients with newly diagnosed, persistent, or recurrent Cushing disease.

Funding Source - FDA Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD)

Read the detailed description

This phase 2 multicenter, open-label clinical trial will evaluate safety and efficacy of oral seliciclib in patients with newly diagnosed, persistent, or recurrent Cushing disease. Up to 13 subjects will be treated with 80 mg each day for 4 weeks. The study will also evaluate effects of seliciclib on quality of life and clinical signs and symptoms of Cushing disease.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cushing Disease

Keywords

  • Cushing disease
  • R-roscovitine
  • Seliciclib
03

In context

Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion

64 studies on the registry are indexed under Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion; 16 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 5 is below the median of 44 across 40 interventional studies indexed under Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion.

Browse Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion studies →

Lead sponsor

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is the lead sponsor of 456 studies on the registry; 107 are open to participants now.

Of its 65 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 49 (75%) have results posted.

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

  • Male and female patients at least 18 years old
  • Patients with confirmed pituitary origin of excess adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) production:

    • Persistent hypercortisolemia established by two consecutive 24-hour UFC assessment ≥1.5× the
    • Normal or elevated ACTH levels
    • Pituitary adenoma (>1 cm) on MRI or inferior petrosal sinus sampling (IPSS) central to peripheral ACTH gradient >2 at baseline and >3 after CRH stimulation
    • Recurrent or persistent CD defined as confirmed resected pituitary ACTH-secreting tumor or IPSS central to peripheral ACTH gradient >2 at baseline and >3 after CRH stimulation, and 24h-UFC >ULN beyond post-surgical week 6
  • Patients on medical treatment for Cushing disease. The following must be completed before screening assessments are performed:

    • Inhibitors of steroidogenesis: metyrapone, ketoconazole: 2 weeks; Levoketoconazole: 3 weeks; osilodrostat: 6 weeks
    • Somatostatin receptor ligand pasireotide: short-acting, 2 weeks; long-acting, 4 weeks
    • Progesterone receptor antagonist mifepristone: 2 weeks
    • Dopamine agonist cabergoline: 4 weeks
    • Patients treated with or CYP2B6 strong inducers or inhibitors, including those listed below. Required washout time varies between drugs; minimum 5-6 times the half-life of the drug.

      • Strong CYP3A inducers: apalutamide, carbamazepine, enzalutamide, mitotane, phenytoin, rifampin, St. John's wort
      • Moderate CYP3A inducers: bosentan, efavirenz, etravirine, phenobarbital, primidone
      • Weak CYP3A inducers: armodafinil, modafinil, rufinamide
      • Strong CYP2B6 inducer: carbamazepine
      • Moderate CYP2B6 inducers: efavirenz, rifampin
      • Weak CYP2B6 inducers: nevirapine, ritonavir
      • Strong CYP3A inhibitors: boceprevir, cobicistat, danoprevir and ritonavir, elvitegravir and ritonavir, grapefruit juice, indinavir and ritonavir, itraconazole, ketoconazole, lopinavir and ritonavir, paritaprevir and ritonavir and (ombitasvir and/or dasabuvir), posaconazole, ritonavir, saquinavir and ritonavir, telaprevir, tipranavir and ritonavir, telithromycin, troleandomycin, voriconazole, clarithromycin, idelalisib, nefazodone, nelfinavir.
      • Moderate CYP3A inhibitors: aprepitant, ciprofloxacin, conivaptan, crizotinib, cyclosporine, diltiazem, dronedarone, erythromycin, fluconazole, fluvoxamine, imatinib, verapamil
      • Strong CYP2B6 inhibitor: ticlopidine

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria:

  • Patients with compromised visual fields, and not stable for at least 6 months
  • Patients with abutment or compression of the optic chiasm on MRI and normal visual fields
  • Patients with Cushing's syndrome due to non-pituitary ACTH secretion
  • Patients with hypercortisolism secondary to adrenal tumors or nodular (primary) bilateral adrenal hyperplasia
  • Patients who have a known inherited syndrome as the cause for hormone over secretion (i.e., Carney Complex, McCune-Albright syndrome, Multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) 1
  • Patients with a diagnosis of -remedial aldosteronism (GRA)
  • Patients with cyclic Cushing's syndrome defined by any measurement of UFC over the previous 1 months within normal range
  • Patients with pseudo-Cushing's syndrome, i.e., non-autonomous hypercortisolism due to overactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in uncontrolled depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, morbid obesity, alcoholism, and uncontrolled diabetes mellitus
  • Patients who have undergone major surgery within 1 month prior to screening
  • Patients with serum K+\< 3.5 while on replacement treatment
  • Diabetic patients whose blood glucose is poorly controlled as evidenced by >8%
  • Patients who have impairment in cardiovascular function or are at risk thereof, as evidenced by congestive heart failure ( Class III or IV), unstable angina, sustained ventricular tachycardia, clinically significant bradycardia, high grade atrioventricular (AV) block, history of acute MI less than one year prior to study entry
  • Patients with liver disease or history of liver disease such as cirrhosis, chronic active and C, or chronic persistent hepatitis, or patients with abnormal alanine transferase () or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) at screening or patients with advanced liver fibrosis (≥10 kPa) on elastography at screening
  • Patients with estimated (eGFR) \<45 mL/min/1.73 m2
  • Patients not biochemically euthyroid
  • Patients who have any current or prior medical condition that can interfere with the conduct of the study or the evaluation of its results, such as

    • History of immunocompromise, including a positive test result (ELISA and Western blot). An HIV test will not be required, however, previous medical history will be reviewed
    • Presence of active or suspected acute or chronic uncontrolled infection
    • History of, or current alcohol misuse/abuse in the 12 month period prior to screening
  • Female patients who are pregnant or lactating, or are of and not practicing a medically acceptable method of . If a woman is participating in the trial then one form of contraception is sufficient (pill or diaphragm) and the partner should use a condom. If oral contraception is used in addition to condoms, the patient must have been practicing this method for at least two months prior to screening and must agree to continue the oral contraceptive throughout the course of the study and for 3 months after the study has ended. Male patients who are sexually active are required to use condoms during the study and for three months afterwards as a precautionary measure (available data do not suggest any increased reproductive risk with the study drugs)
  • Patients who have participated in any clinical investigation with an drug within 1 month prior to screening or patients who have previously been treated with seliciclib
  • Patients with any ongoing or likely to require additional concomitant medical treatment to treat CD
  • Patients who have received pituitary irradiation within the last 5 years prior to the baseline visit
  • Patients who have been treated with radionuclide at any time prior to study entry
  • Patients with known to seliciclib
  • Patients with a history of non-compliance to medical regimens or who are considered potentially unreliable or will be unable to complete the entire study
  • Patients with hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) positivity
  • Patients with antibody (anti-HCV) positivity
  • Patients with prolonged on screening (QTcF >450 msec)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(19)

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.

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.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Washout period

A planned gap after a treatment, so that its effects can lessen before the study treatment or a study assessment. Ask the study team and the doctor who prescribed it before changing any medicine.

CYP3A (CYP3A4) inhibitors and inducers

CYP3A is a group of enzymes, mainly CYP3A4, in the liver and gut that break down many medicines. Some medicines, supplements and foods (grapefruit, St John’s wort) slow them down or speed them up, which changes how much of a study drug stays in the body.

Studies list them so they can be avoided or switched; bring a list of everything you take, including supplements.

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.

HbA1c

A blood test of average blood sugar over the past two to three months, given as a percentage or in mmol/mol. 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) or more is the usual threshold for diabetes, normally confirmed by a second test.

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.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

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.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

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.

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.

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.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

QT and QTc

On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.

The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.

ECG (electrocardiogram)

A recording of the heart’s electrical activity, taken with stickers on the chest, arms and legs. It takes a few minutes and does not hurt.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
5 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Seliciclib

    80 mg each day oral seliciclib for 4 weeks

    Drug: Seliciclib

Interventions

  • Drug: Seliciclib

    Also known as: R-roscotivine

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of participants with a normalized 24-hour urinary free cortisol (UFC) at study completion

    Time frame: 4 weeks

  2. Number of participants with UFC above the upper limit of normal (ULN) but reduced by ≥50% from baseline at study completion

    Time frame: 4 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Plasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  2. Salivary cortisol

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  3. Serum cortisol

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  4. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c)

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  5. Fasting blood glucose

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  6. Weight and height to report body mass index (BMI) in kg/m^2

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  7. Blood pressure

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  8. Change on visual field exam

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  9. Change in tumor size on pituitary MRI

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  10. Change in quality of life measured using the CushingQOL questionnaire

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

  11. Number of treatment-emergent adverse events graded using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC) version 4.0

    Time frame: Baseline and week 4

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
    Los Angeles, California 90048, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Liu NA, Araki T, Cuevas-Ramos D, Hong J, Ben-Shlomo A, Tone Y, Tone M, Melmed S. Cyclin E-Mediated Human Proopiomelanocortin Regulation as a Therapeutic Target for Cushing Disease. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2015 Jul;100(7):2557-64. doi: 10.1210/jc.2015-1606. Epub 2015 May 5. PubMed 25942479 ↗
  • Liu NA, Jiang H, Ben-Shlomo A, Wawrowsky K, Fan XM, Lin S, Melmed S. Targeting zebrafish and murine pituitary corticotroph tumors with a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 May 17;108(20):8414-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1018091108. Epub 2011 May 2. PubMed 21536883 ↗
09

Updates

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
Status
Recruiting→Completed
changed Oct 16, 2026
Primary completion
Aug 2026→Jul 20, 2026 (actual)
Oct 16, 2026
Study completion
Aug 2026→Jul 20, 2026 (actual)
Oct 16, 2026
Enrollment
13 (estimated)→5 (actual)
Oct 16, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Oct 16, 2026
    Recruiting→Completed
    Primary completion Aug 2026→Jul 20, 2026 (now actual)
    Study completion Aug 2026→Jul 20, 2026 (now actual)
    Enrollment 13 (estimated)→5 (actual)
    + 5 other changes: verification date, registry dates, oversight details, contact details and site details

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03774446
Responsible party
Shlomo Melmed, MD (Sr. Vice President of Academic Affairs, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) — Principal investigator
First posted
Dec 13, 2018
Start date
Nov 2, 2018
Primary completion
Jul 20, 2026
Completion
Jul 20, 2026
Last update
Oct 16, 2026

Study contacts

Shlomo Melmed, MD
principal investigator · Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Ning-Ai Liu, MD, PhD
study director · Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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