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TerminatedNCT04823624Updated Feb 27, 2026Results posted

MBG453 in Lower Risk MDS

A Phase 2 interventional study of MBG453 in Myelodysplastic Syndromes, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Terminated at 3 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-02-27.

Sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

Why this study was terminated
The trial closed early due to changes in support for the study drug.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
10
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This research study is assessing the efficacy of MBG-453, a humanized monoclonal antibody, in treating myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

The name of the study drug involved in this study is MBG453.

Read the detailed description

This is an adaptive two-stage phase II clinical trial to assess the activity of the anti-TIM-3, (T cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain) antibody, MBG453, in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), not eligible for or progressing on frontline therapy.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved MBG453 for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), but it has been approved for other uses.

The study drug (MBG453) may interact with TIM-3 (an antibody which is a protein that attaches to foreign infectious/invading cells and signals the immune system) which might aid the immune system's response by helping immune cells recognize, find, and destroy cancer cells in the body.

The research study procedures include screening for eligibility and study treatment, including evaluations and follow up visits.

Participants will receive study treatment for as long as they and their doctor believe they are benefiting from the study drug. Participants will then be followed for 12 months after their last dose of the study drug or until they withdraw their consent to be contacted.

It is expected that about 20 people will take part in this research study

02

Conditions studied

  • Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Keywords

  • Myelodysplastic Syndromes
03

In context

Myelodysplastic Syndromes

2,124 studies on the registry are indexed under Myelodysplastic Syndromes; 320 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 10 is below the median of 39 across 1,740 interventional studies indexed under Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

Browse Myelodysplastic Syndromes studies →

Lead sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital is the lead sponsor of 2,536 studies on the registry; 446 are open to participants now.

Of its 214 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 161 (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

Inclusion criteria

  • Lower risk MDS patients (IPSS-R score ≤ 3.5 at diagnosis) who have progressed or are refractory to/intolerant of prior therapy and meet one of the following categories:

    • RBC transfusion dependent according to IWG criteria must either be unresponsive to prior ESA therapy or have an EPO level > 500
    • Prior HMA therapy
    • Patients with the following cytopenias who otherwise are felt to require treatment per the treating physician:

      • Platelets \< 50k/uL
      • ANC \< 500 cells/uL
    • Patients with MDS with isolated del(5q) ("5q- syndrome") must have progressed on or not tolerated lenalidomide
    • Patients who are not felt to be candidates for or lack other standard treatment options. Patients with prior luspatercept exposure are eligible.
    • Patients with dysplastic type CMML (WBC \< 13,000 cells/uL) meeting the above criteria are eligible; responses will be assessed using MDS criteria
  • Age ≥18 years. Because no dosing or adverse event data are currently available on the use of MGB453 in participants \<18 years of age, children are excluded from this study, but will be eligible for future pediatric trials.
  • ECOG performance status ≤2 (see Appendix A).
  • Participants must have adequate organ and marrow function as defined below within 21 days of treatment:

    • Total bilirubin ≤ 2 mg/dL (unless due to Gilbert's in which case it must be \<3 mg/dL)
    • AST(SGOT)/ALT(SGPT) ≤3 × institutional ULN
    • Creatinine clearance ≥30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (by MDRD calculation)
  • Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected participants on effective anti-retroviral therapy with undetectable viral load over the prior 6 months are eligible for this trial.
  • Participants with known history or current symptoms of cardiac disease, or history of treatment with cardiotoxic agents, should have a clinical risk assessment of cardiac function using the New York Heart Association Functional Classification. To be eligible for this trial, participants should be class 2B or better.
  • Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy within 14 days or five half-lives, whichever is shorter, prior to the first dose of study treatment.
  • Participants who are receiving any other investigational agents; a washout of 14 days or 5 half-lives, whichever is longer, is required. The washout period for biologic agents should be 28 days since the last dose.
  • Prior exposure to a TIM-3 inhibitor.
  • Active autoimmune disease requiring > 10 mg per day of prednisone or the equivalent. Inactive or controlled autoimmune disease is allowed.
  • Prior solid organ transplant is exclusionary. Patients with prior hematopoietic cell transplant are eligible if they are over 6 months from transplant and not on any related immunosuppressive therapy.
  • History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to MBG453.
  • Active untreated or concurrent malignancy that is distinct in primary site or histology, excluding:

    • The following will not be exclusionary: non-melanoma skin cancer, noninvasive colonic polyps, superficial bladder tumors, cervical cancer in-situ, ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast, monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis, or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.
    • Hormonal therapy is allowed.
    • History of other malignancy is allowed if not requiring active management.
    • Other malignancies that were treated with curative intent at least 1 year prior to study screening and without evidence of active disease will be allowed.
    • Participants with a prior or concurrent malignancy whose natural history or treatment does not have the potential to interfere with the safety or efficacy assessment of the investigational regimen are eligible for this trial pending discussion with the principal investigator.
  • Participants with uncontrolled intercurrent illness.
  • Participants must not have clinically active HBV or HCV; testing is not required
  • Receipt of a live vaccination within 28 days of cycle 1 day 1
  • Participants with psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements.
  • Female contraception is required. Pregnant women are excluded from this study because MBG453 is an agent with the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with MBG453, breastfeeding should be discontinued. Women of child-bearing potential should use highly effective methods of contraception during treatment and for 150 days after the last dose of MBG453.
05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    MG MBG453

    Participants will be given MBG453 On Day 1 of each cycle 28 days (4 weeks) study cycle

    Drug: MBG453

Interventions

  • DrugMBG453

    intravenous infusion

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Overall Response Rate (ORR)

    Assessed on the proposal for the modification of the International Working Group (IWG) response criteria in myelodysplasia (Cheson et al., 2006), but modified to include complete remission with partial hematologic improvement CRh (Bloomfield et al., 2018), and the 2018 proposed update for hematologic responses and transfusion independence (TI) (Platzbecker et al., 2019). Patients with dysplastic-type CMML will use MDS risk-stratification and response assessment criteria.

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of Participants With Treatment-Related Adverse Events as Assessed by CTCAE Version 5.0

    The number of participants with adverse events, graded as defined by CTCAE version 5.0 will be tabulated by type and grade.

    Time frame: during the intervention, an average of 1 year

  2. Overall Survival (OS) 1-year

    1 year overall survival rate estimated using the Kaplan and Meier method.

    Time frame: 1 year

  3. Progression Free Survival (PFS)

    1 year PFS estimated using the Kaplan and Meier method.

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

  4. Time to Disease Progression

    Median time from treatment start until disease progression or death, estimated using the Kaplan and Meier method.

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

  5. Duration of Response

    Estimated using the Kaplan and Meier method.

    Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year

07

Results

Posted Feb 27, 2026
Limitations and caveats
The trial closed early due to changes in support for the study drug. Patients continue in follow up off treatment and correlative studies continue on the subset of patients who were enrolled prior to closure.

Participant flow

10 patients were enrolled

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestoneMG MBG453
Started10
Completed10
Not completed0

Outcome measures

PrimaryOverall Response Rate (ORR)

Assessed on the proposal for the modification of the International Working Group (IWG) response criteria in myelodysplasia (Cheson et al., 2006), but modified to include complete remission with partial hematologic improvement CRh (Bloomfield et al., 2018), and the 2018 proposed update for hematologic responses and transfusion independence (TI) (Platzbecker et al., 2019). Patients with dysplastic-type CMML will use MDS risk-stratification and response assessment criteria.

Time frame:
6 months
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Overall Response Rate (ORR)
ParticipantsMG MBG453
Overall Response Rate (ORR)2
SecondaryNumber of Participants With Treatment-Related Adverse Events as Assessed by CTCAE Version 5.0

The number of participants with adverse events, graded as defined by CTCAE version 5.0 will be tabulated by type and grade.

Time frame:
during the intervention, an average of 1 year
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Number of Participants With Treatment-Related Adverse Events as Assessed by CTCAE Version 5.0
ParticipantsMG MBG453
Number of Participants With Treatment-Related Adverse Events as Assessed by CTCAE Version 5.02
SecondaryOverall Survival (OS) 1-year

1 year overall survival rate estimated using the Kaplan and Meier method.

Time frame:
1 year
Reported as:
Number · percentage
Overall Survival (OS) 1-year
percentageMG MBG453
Overall Survival (OS) 1-year64 (39 to 100)
SecondaryProgression Free Survival (PFS)

1 year PFS estimated using the Kaplan and Meier method.

Time frame:
through study completion, an average of 1 year
Reported as:
Number · percentage
Progression Free Survival (PFS)
percentageMG MBG453
Progression Free Survival (PFS)47 (23 to 94)
SecondaryTime to Disease Progression

Median time from treatment start until disease progression or death, estimated using the Kaplan and Meier method.

Time frame:
through study completion, an average of 1 year
Reported as:
Median · months
Time to Disease Progression
monthsMG MBG453
Time to Disease Progression5.9 (4.8 to NA)
SecondaryDuration of Response

Estimated using the Kaplan and Meier method.

Time frame:
through study completion, an average of 1 year
Reported as:
Median · months
Duration of Response
monthsMG MBG453
Duration of Response5.25 (3.68 to 6.83)

Adverse events

Collected over Adverse Events were monitored/assessed from enrollment through end of treatment, an average of 6 months. All-Cause Mortality was monitored/assessed for up to 1 year following end of treatment.. Non-serious events are listed at a 5% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
MG MBG4534/10 (40%)3/10 (30%)7/10 (70%)
Most frequent serious events
Most frequent serious events
EventMG MBG453
neutropeniaBlood and lymphatic system disorders2/10
thrombocytopeniaBlood and lymphatic system disorders1/10
chest pain - cardiacCardiac disorders1/10
Most frequent other events
Most frequent other events
EventMG MBG453
neutropeniaBlood and lymphatic system disorders4/10
anemiaBlood and lymphatic system disorders2/10
alkaline phosphatase increasedHepatobiliary disorders1/10
thrombocytopeniaBlood and lymphatic system disorders1/10

Baseline characteristics

Age, Continuous
Age, Continuous(years)MG MBG453
Median72 (54 to 88)
Sex: Female, Male
Sex: Female, Male(Participants)MG MBG453
Female1
Male9
Race (NIH/OMB)
Race (NIH/OMB)(Participants)MG MBG453
American Indian or Alaska Native0
Asian2
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander0
Black or African American0
White8
More than one race0
Unknown or Not Reported0
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)(Participants)MG MBG453
Hispanic or Latino0
Not Hispanic or Latino10
Unknown or Not Reported0
Transfusion Burden
Transfusion Burden(Participants)MG MBG453
High Transfusion Burden8
Low Transfusion Burden2
08

Study locations

3 sites
  • Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
    Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
09

References and documents

Study documents

  • Protocol and statistical analysis plan · Feb 13, 2023
  • Informed consent form · Oct 4, 2022

Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — The Dana-Farber / Harvard Cancer Center encourages and supports the responsible and ethical sharing of data from clinical trials. De-identified participant data from the final research dataset used in the published manuscript may only be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement. Requests may be directed to: \[contact information for Sponsor Investigator or designee\]. The protocol and statistical analysis plan will be made available on Clinicaltrials.gov only as required by federal regulation or as a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Sap, Icf

10

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 27, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04823624
Lead sponsor
Massachusetts General Hospital
Collaborators
Novartis
Responsible party
Andrew Mark Brunner, MD (Principal Investigator, Massachusetts General Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 1, 2021
Start date
Jan 27, 2022
Primary completion
Nov 12, 2024
Completion
Nov 1, 2025
Results posted
Feb 27, 2026
Last update
Feb 27, 2026

Study contacts

Andrew Brunner, MD
principal investigator · Massachusetts General Hospital

Oversight

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

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

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