ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT04040205Updated Jul 28, 2026

Abemaciclib for Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma With Cyclin-Dependent Kinase (CDK) Pathway Alteration

A Phase 2 interventional study of Abemaciclib in Chondrosarcoma, Osteosarcoma and Soft Tissue Sarcoma, sponsored by Medical College of Wisconsin. Recruiting at 4 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-28.

Sponsored by Medical College of Wisconsin · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Oct 2019; still recruiting 7 years 1 month later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
44
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a single-arm, phase II study that will enroll a total of 45 subjects. All subjects will have a confirmed diagnosis of metastatic or unresectable soft tissue sarcoma or bone sarcoma. All subjects must have intact Rb, identified at the time of screening, by immunohistochemistry testing of submitted tumor specimen. Subjects will receive Abemaciclib 200 mg twice daily until progression or discontinuation criteria are met.

Read the detailed description

Population to be studied:

Since abemaciclib is already being studied in dedifferentiated liposarcoma patients, patients with this sarcoma subtype will not be enrolled in the current study. This exploratory study will enroll patients with all other types of soft tissue sarcoma, in addition to patients with several bone sarcomas. We are testing the hypothesis that biomarkers of Cyclin D1 - CDK4/6 - Rb pathway activation will identify patients with a rare, heterogeneous cancer who are most likely to benefit from cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) inhibition with abemaciclib.

There will be three cohorts of patients, intended to ensure representation of subjects with rare bone sarcomas - chondrosarcoma and osteosarcoma - that have relatively frequent occurrence of abnormalities in the Cyclin D1 - CDK4/6 - Rb pathway, in addition to soft tissue sarcoma.

Cohort 1 - Conventional chondrosarcoma, 9-12 patients;

Cohort 2 - Osteosarcoma, Dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma, 9-12 patients;

Cohort 3 - Soft tissue sarcoma (except WD/DD Liposarcoma), 22-26 patients

02

Conditions studied

  • Chondrosarcoma
  • Osteosarcoma
  • Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Keywords

  • Rb
  • Retinoblastoma
  • Chondrosarcoma
  • Osteosarcoma
  • Soft Tissue Sarcoma
03

In context

Chondrosarcoma

99 studies on the registry are indexed under Chondrosarcoma; 20 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 44 is below the median of 52 across 72 interventional studies indexed under Chondrosarcoma.

Browse Chondrosarcoma studies →

Lead sponsor

Medical College of Wisconsin is the lead sponsor of 548 studies on the registry; 122 are open to participants now.

Of its 75 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 57 (76%) 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

  1. Diagnosis of soft tissue sarcoma or conventional chondrosarcoma, dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma, chordoma, or osteosarcoma (see exclusion criteria below)
  2. or locally advanced disease that is unresectable
  3. There is no limit to the number of prior therapies a subject may have had, but the following requirements must be met:

    1. Conventional chondrosarcoma low-grade osteosarcoma, and chordoma: No requirements regarding prior therapy
    2. Osteosarcoma (high-grade), Dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma: at least 1 prior anthracycline chemotherapy, alone or in combination, required either as adjuvant, or in the metastatic setting. If anthracycline chemotherapy is , alternative prior chemotherapy is acceptable.
    3. Soft tissue sarcoma: at least 1 line of systemic therapy, unless the sarcoma subtype is one that is generally considered unresponsive to standard chemotherapy.
  4. Age ≥ 18 years.
  5. Provide study specific (step 1) prior to study entry
  6. Documented CDK pathway abnormality on a commercially available mutation profiling test (Foundation, Tempus xT, etc), if performed previously as part of routine/standard care on tumor (metastatic or primary), having at least one of the following (a and/or b)

    1. Cyclin D1 (CCND1), cyclin D2 (CCND2), cyclin D3 (CCND3), cyclin dependent kinase 4 (CDK4), and/or cyclin dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) amplification/copy number gain
    2. Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) or CDKN2B copy number loss
  7. Provide study-specific (step 2) informed consent
  8. Rb positive confirmed by immunohistochemistry testing of archived tumor tissue specimen (metastatic or primary site) performed centrally at Medical College of Wisconsin Precision Medicine Laboratory.
  9. All subjects must have as defined by 1.1. (See RECIST 1.1 criteria in Appendix 10.
  10. Subjects must also have had evidence of disease progression by RECIST 1.1 within 6 months of enrollment, or newly diagnosed within the last 6 months (refer to step 1 criteria regarding previous lines of therapy).
  11. A of at least 21 days is required between last chemotherapy dose and enrollment.
  12. A washout period of at least 14 days is required between end of radiotherapy and enrollment.
  13. At least 14 days after surgery, and absence of significant wound healing issues that would pose infection risk.
  14. Subjects with that have been treated with definitive surgery or radiation and have been clinically stable for 3 months are eligible.
  15. (ECOG) performance status 0 or 1
  16. Adequate organ and marrow function as defined below ( indicates institutional upper limit of normal):

    • ≥ 8.0 g/dL

      a. Patients may receive erythrocyte transfusions to achieve this hemoglobin level at the discretion of the investigator. Initial treatment must not begin earlier than the day after the erythrocyte transfusion.

    • ≥ 100 x 10\^9/L
    • Total ≤ 1.5 x ULN

      a. Patients with Gilbert's syndrome with a total bilirubin ≤2.0 times ULN and direct bilirubin within normal limits are permitted.

    • (AST)(SGOT)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT)(SGPT) ≤ 3 x institutional ULN
    • Renal function (at least one of the following): Estimated (CrCl) ≥ 30 mL/min (Cockcroft-Gault), estimated (eGFR) ≥ 30 mL/min/1.73 m\^2 (MDRD or Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) formula), or actual CrCl as determined by 24-hour urine collection
  17. Female subjects must meet one of the following:

    • for at least one year before enrollment, OR
    • Surgically sterile (i.e. undergone a hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy), OR
    • If subject is of (defined as not satisfying either of the above two criteria), must have a negative serum pregnancy test within 21 days of step 2 enrollment AND

      • Agree to practice two acceptable methods of (combination methods requires use of two of the following: diaphragm with spermicide, cervical cap with spermicide, contraceptive sponge, male or female condom with spermicidal agent added, hormonal contraceptive) from the time of signing of the informed consent form through 90 days after the last dose of study agent, OR
      • Agree to practice true abstinence when this is in line with the preferred and usual lifestyle of the subject. (Periodic abstinence [e.g., calendar, ovulation, symptothermal, postovulation methods] and withdrawal are not acceptable contraception methods.)
  18. Male subjects, even if surgically sterilized (i.e., status post vasectomy), must agree to one of the following:

    • Practice effective barrier contraception during the entire study period and through 60 calendar days after the last dose of study agent, OR
    • Agree to practice true abstinence when this is in line with the preferred and usual lifestyle of the subject. (Periodic abstinence [e.g., calendar, ovulation, symptothermal, post ovulation methods] and withdrawal are not acceptable methods of contraception.)
  19. Subjects must be deemed able to comply with the study plan by the local PI.
  20. Ability to swallow oral medications

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Diagnosis of well differentiated (WD) or dedifferentiated (DD) liposarcoma
  2. Prior treatment with a specific CDK 4 or CDK 6 inhibitor - (such as palbociclib, abemaciclib, or ribociclib).
  3. Subjects who have not recovered ( [CTCAE v5.0] Grade ≤1) from the acute effects of chemotherapy (except for residual alopecia or Grade 2 peripheral neuropathy) prior to enrollment, or other toxicity or serious preexisting medical condition(s) (for example, interstitial lung disease, severe dyspnea at rest or requiring oxygen therapy, history of major surgical resection involving the stomach or small bowel, or preexisting Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis or a preexisting chronic condition resulting in baseline Grade 2 or higher diarrhea) that in the opinion of the site PI is expected to preclude participation in this study.
  4. Subjects currently receiving any other agents.
  5. Current ongoing treatment with strong Cytochrome P450, family 3, subfamily A () inducers or inhibitors.
  6. Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to, known ongoing or active bacterial infection (requiring IV antibiotics), fungal infection, detectable viral infection (such as known or active or C) (screening tests is not required for enrollment), symptomatic congestive heart failure, unstable angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia (specifically, atrial fibrillation or ventricular dysrhythmias except ventricular premature contractions), or psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements.
  7. The subject has a personal history of any of the following conditions: syncope of cardiovascular etiology, ventricular arrhythmia of pathological origin (including, but not limited to, ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation), or sudden cardiac arrest.
  8. Pregnant women and women who are breast-feeding.
  9. Subjects must not have current evidence of another that requires treatment.
  10. Subjects who received treatment with live attenuated viruses within 30 days prior to eligibility confirmation or might receive the treatment through the duration of the trial.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(26)

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.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

Adjuvant and neoadjuvant

Neoadjuvant treatment is given before the main treatment (usually surgery), often to shrink a tumour. Adjuvant treatment is given after it, to lower the chance of the cancer coming back.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

Line of therapy

A line of therapy is one course of treatment, which may combine several drugs. First-line is the first course given; second-line follows when that stops working or is not tolerated.

“Two prior lines” means two courses that count separately under the study’s rules — not simply two drugs. Ask the study team if you are unsure how yours are counted.

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.

Measurable disease

The amount of disease can be tracked with a defined measurement, so the study can see whether it shrinks or grows. It might be a tumour measured on a scan or, in some blood cancers such as myeloma, a marker measured in blood or urine.

The criteria or the study team say which measurement counts — having no tumour visible on a scan does not by itself rule you out.

RECIST

The standard rules for measuring tumours on CT or MRI scans, to tell whether a cancer is shrinking, stable or growing during treatment.

“Measurable disease per RECIST 1.1” usually means at least one tumour 10 mm or more at its longest on a CT scan, or a lymph node 15 mm or more across its short axis.

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.

Brain metastases

Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).

Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

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.

Creatinine clearance (CrCl)

How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.

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.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

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.

CTCAE grade

The US National Cancer Institute’s scale of how severe an adverse event is — any unwanted medical event during a study, such as a symptom, an illness or an abnormal test result, whether or not a treatment caused it. Whether it did is judged separately.

1
Mild.
2
Moderate.
3
Severe.
4
Life-threatening.
5
Death due to the event.

“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Abemaciclib

    Subjects will be treated with abemaciclib 200 mg twice daily by mouth.

    Drug: Abemaciclib

Interventions

  • Abemaciclib 200 mg will be taken by mouth twice daily.

    Also known as: Verzenio

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Progression-free survival

    This outcome measure is the number of subjects whose disease has not progressed as defined by RECIST 1.1 criteria.

    Time frame: 12 weeks

07

Study locations

4 of 4 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 28, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04040205
Responsible party
John Charlson (Associate Professor, Medical College of Wisconsin) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jul 31, 2019
Start date
Oct 7, 2019
Primary completion
Jun 1, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Jun 1, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 28, 2026

Study contacts

Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office
Contact
cccto@mcw.edu
866-680-0505 ext. 8900
John Charlson, MD
principal investigator · Medical College of Wisconsin

Oversight

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

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Studies of the drug tested here: Abemaciclib

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