A Phase 2 interventional study of Tipifarnib in Malignant Solid Neoplasm, Recurrent Adrenal Gland Pheochromocytoma and Recurrent Ectomesenchymoma, sponsored by National Cancer Institute (NCI). Active, not recruiting at 172 sites in 2 countries. Open to participants aged 12 Months to 21 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-16.
Sponsored by National Cancer Institute (NCI) · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
This phase II pediatric MATCH trial studies how well tipifarnib works in treating patients with solid tumors that have recurred or spread to other places in the body (advanced), lymphoma, or histiocytic disorders, that have a genetic alteration in the gene HRAS. Tipifarnib may block the growth of cancer cells that have specific genetic changes in a gene called HRAS and may reduce tumor size.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:
I. To determine the objective response rate (ORR; complete response + partial response) in pediatric patients treated with tipifarnib with advanced solid tumors (including central nervous system [CNS] tumors), lymphomas or histiocytic disorders that harbor activating genetic alterations in HRAS.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
I. To estimate the progression free survival in pediatric patients treated with tipifarnib with advanced solid tumors (including CNS tumors), lymphomas or histiocytic disorders that harbor activating genetic alterations in HRAS.
II. To obtain information about the tolerability of tipifarnib in children and adolescents with relapsed or refractory cancer.
EXPLORATORY OBJECTIVES:
I. To evaluate other biomarkers as predictors of response to tipifarnib and specifically, whether tumors that harbor different missense mutations or variant allele frequency will demonstrate differential response to tipifarnib treatment.
II. To explore approaches to profiling changes in tumor genomics over time through evaluation of circulating tumor deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
OUTLINE:
Patients receive tipifarnib tablets 350 mg/m\^2/dose orally (PO) or via nasogastric or gastric tube twice daily (BID) (maximum 600 mg/dose BID) with food on days 1-7 and 15-21. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 26 cycles (2 years) in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 30 days, then periodically thereafter.
158 studies on the registry are indexed under Pheochromocytoma; 57 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 5 is below the median of 37 across 87 interventional studies indexed under Pheochromocytoma.
Browse Pheochromocytoma studies →National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the lead sponsor of 3,556 studies on the registry; 336 are open to participants now.
Of its 411 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 373 (91%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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.
Patients must have radiographically at the time of study enrollment. Patients with neuroblastoma who do not have measurable disease but have metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) positive (+) evaluable disease are eligible. Measurable disease in patients with CNS involvement is defined as any lesion that is at minimum 10 mm in one dimension on standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT)
Note: The following do not qualify as measurable disease:
Patients must have fully recovered from the acute toxic effects of all prior anti-cancer therapy and must meet the following minimum duration from prior anti-cancer directed therapy prior to enrollment. If after the required timeframe, the numerical eligibility criteria are met, e.g. blood count criteria, the patient is considered to have recovered adequately
Cytotoxic chemotherapy or other anti-cancer agents known to be myelosuppressive
Stem cell infusions (with or without total body irradiation [TBI]):
Radiation therapy (XRT)/external beam irradiation including protons: >= 14 days after local XRT; >= 150 days after TBI, craniospinal XRT or if radiation to >= 50% of the pelvis; >= 42 days if other substantial bone marrow (BM) radiation
For patients with solid tumors without known bone marrow involvement (within 7 days prior to enrollment):
For patients with solid tumors without known bone marrow involvement (within 7 days prior to enrollment):
A serum creatinine based on age/gender as follows (within 7 days prior to enrollment):
Age: Maximum serum creatinine (mg/dL)
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
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.
Cancer that has spread to the leptomeninges, the thin layers covering the brain and spinal cord, and the fluid between them. It is not the same as brain metastases.
Criteria often treat it separately, and many studies leave it out even where treated brain metastases are allowed.
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.
A 0–100 scale of how well someone can carry out everyday activities. 100 is no complaints and no signs of illness; 70 is able to look after yourself but not to work or keep up normal activity; 50 is needing considerable help and frequent medical care.
Studies often ask for 60 or 70 and above. Your doctor gives the score.
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.
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.
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.
After a transplant from a donor, the donor’s immune cells attack the recipient’s body, often the skin, gut or liver.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
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 (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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.
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.
Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.
Criteria about it usually ask for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Leptomeningeal disease
Cancer that has spread to the leptomeninges, the thin layers covering the brain and spinal cord, and the fluid between them. It is not the same as brain metastases.
Criteria often treat it separately, and many studies leave it out even where treated brain metastases are allowed.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Karnofsky performance status (KPS)
A 0–100 scale of how well someone can carry out everyday activities. 100 is no complaints and no signs of illness; 70 is able to look after yourself but not to work or keep up normal activity; 50 is needing considerable help and frequent medical care.
Studies often ask for 60 or 70 and above. Your doctor gives the score.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
GVHD (graft-versus-host disease)
After a transplant from a donor, the donor’s immune cells attack the recipient’s body, often the skin, gut or liver.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Relapsed and refractory
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
“Side effects of earlier treatment resolved to grade 1 or less” means they have settled to mild or gone.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Reproductive potential
Able to have children. For women this usually means from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery; for men, unless permanently sterile. Read who the line is about — participants, women, men, or their partners.
Criteria about it usually ask for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Patients receive tipifarnib tablets 350 mg/m\^2/dose PO or via nasogastric or gastric tube BID (maximum 600 mg/dose BID) with food on days 1-7 and 15-21. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 26 cycles (2 years) in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Drug: Tipifarnib
Tipifarnib tablets
Also known as: R115777, Zarnestra
Objective Response Rate (Complete Response + Partial Response) in Pediatric Patients Treated With Tipifarnib
A responder is defined as a patient who achieves a best response of partial response or complete response on the study. Response rates will be calculated as the percent of evaluable patients who are responders, and confidence intervals will be constructed using the Wilson score interval method. The revised Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) guideline (version 1.1) was used to determine response and progression in this study, with specific criteria outlined for the different subtypes of tumors (e.g., 2-dimensional measurements for central nervous system (CNS) tumors.
Time frame: Up to 2 years from study entry
Progression Free Survival (PFS)
The Kaplan-Meier method will be used to estimate the 6-month PFS. PFS is defined as time from initiation of protocol treatment to disease progression, recurrence, death from any cause, or date of last contact
Time frame: Up to 6 months from study entry
Percentage of Patients Experiencing Grade 3 or Higher Adverse Events
Percentage of patients experiencing grade 3 or higher adverse events will be evaluated according to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0
Time frame: Up to 2 years from study entry
Biomarker Analysis
Will evaluate other biomarkers as predictors of response to tipifarnib and whether tumors that harbor different missense mutations or fusions will demonstrate differential response to treatment.
Time frame: Up to 7 years
Profiling Changes in Tumor Genomics
Will explore approaches to the profiling changes in tumor genomics over time through evaluation of circulating tumor deoxyribonucleic acid.
Time frame: Baseline, prior to cycle 5, end of treatment, assessed up to 7 years
| Milestone | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| Started | 5 |
| Completed | 0 |
| Not completed | 5 |
| Withdrew: Progressive disease | 5 |
A responder is defined as a patient who achieves a best response of partial response or complete response on the study. Response rates will be calculated as the percent of evaluable patients who are responders, and confidence intervals will be constructed using the Wilson score interval method. The revised Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) guideline (version 1.1) was used to determine response and progression in this study, with specific criteria outlined for the different subtypes of tumors (e.g., 2-dimensional measurements for central nervous system (CNS) tumors.
| percentage of patients | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| Objective Response Rate (Complete Response + Partial Response) in Pediatric Patients Treated With Tipifarnib | 0 (0 to 0) |
The Kaplan-Meier method will be used to estimate the 6-month PFS. PFS is defined as time from initiation of protocol treatment to disease progression, recurrence, death from any cause, or date of last contact
Results for this outcome have not been posted.
Percentage of patients experiencing grade 3 or higher adverse events will be evaluated according to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0
Results for this outcome have not been posted.
Will evaluate other biomarkers as predictors of response to tipifarnib and whether tumors that harbor different missense mutations or fusions will demonstrate differential response to treatment.
Results for this outcome have not been posted.
Will explore approaches to the profiling changes in tumor genomics over time through evaluation of circulating tumor deoxyribonucleic acid.
Results for this outcome have not been posted.
Collected over Adverse Events monitored/assessed from enrollment to 30 days after the end of treatment, up to 2 years.. Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.
| Group | Deaths | Serious | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treatment (Tipifarnib) | 4/5 (80%) | 2/5 (40%) | 3/5 (60%) |
| Event | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| Disease progressionGeneral disorders | 2/5 |
| DyspneaRespiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders | 1/5 |
| Pleural effusionRespiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders | 1/5 |
| Event | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| AnemiaBlood and lymphatic system disorders | 3/5 |
| HypokalemiaMetabolism and nutrition disorders | 3/5 |
| VomitingGastrointestinal disorders | 2/5 |
| Lymphocyte count decreasedInvestigations | 2/5 |
| Abdominal distensionGastrointestinal disorders | 1/5 |
| Abdominal painGastrointestinal disorders | 1/5 |
| ConstipationGastrointestinal disorders | 1/5 |
| DiarrheaGastrointestinal disorders | 1/5 |
| NauseaGastrointestinal disorders | 1/5 |
| Disease progressionGeneral disorders | 1/5 |
| Age, Categorical(Participants) | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| <=18 years | 5 |
| Between 18 and 65 years | 0 |
| >=65 years | 0 |
| Age, Continuous(years) | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| Mean | 8.2 ± 5.7 |
| Sex: Female, Male(Participants) | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| Female | 1 |
| Male | 4 |
| Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)(Participants) | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| Hispanic or Latino | 2 |
| Not Hispanic or Latino | 3 |
| Unknown or Not Reported | 0 |
| Race (NIH/OMB)(Participants) | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 0 |
| Asian | 0 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0 |
| Black or African American | 1 |
| White | 2 |
| More than one race | 0 |
| Unknown or Not Reported | 2 |
| Region of Enrollment(participants) | Treatment (Tipifarnib) |
|---|---|
| United States | 5 |
Showing the first 100 of 172 sites across 2 countries. Choose a country and city above to see the rest.
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: Yes — NCI is committed to sharing data in accordance with NIH policy. For more details on how clinical trial data is shared, access the link to the NIH data sharing policy page.
Data sharing details ↗ · grants.nih.gov
Ran from Oct 2020 to primary completion in Mar 2024, 41 months.
Results were first posted in Jun 2025, 1 year 2 months after primary completion.
Of 28 phase 2 interventional studies under Pheochromocytoma, half reached primary completion within 92 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 36 and three quarters within 157. This study's 41 months is below that.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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 ↗
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Studies of the drug tested here: Tipifarnib
National Cancer Institute (NCI) →