ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT05971758Updated Jul 17, 2026

Fimepinostat, Combination HDAC and Pi3-kinase Inhibitor Tumor-Directed Therapy for Cushing Disease

A Phase 2 interventional study of Fimepinostat in Cushing Disease, sponsored by University of California, Los Angeles. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-17.

Sponsored by University of California, Los Angeles · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Jan 2025; still recruiting 1 year 9 months later.
Phase
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Supported by the pre-clinical data (summarized in Research Strategy), the investigators propose that Fimepinostat is an ideal candidate drug in the treatment and intervention of patients with Cushing Disease. The investigators propose a pilot, short-term (4 weeks) phase II single-center study to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of Fimepinostat in the treatment of patients with de novo, persistent, and/or recurrent CD recruited at the University of California, Los Angeles. The trial will have a 2-arm design and will simultaneously examine two different doses of Fimepinostat. The study will allow the investigators to determine the efficacy and safety of these doses in the treatment of CD and guide dose selection for subsequent, larger studies. Funding Source - FDA OOPD.

02

Conditions studied

  • Cushing Disease
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 planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 44 across 40 interventional studies indexed under Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion.

Browse Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion studies →

Lead sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles is the lead sponsor of 1,170 studies on the registry; 195 are open to participants now.

Of its 95 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 70 (74%) 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
Yes

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 Cushing syndrome defined as 1, 2\& 3 or 4 \& 5 below:

    1. Persistent hypercortisolism defined as a mean of 3 consecutive 24h UFC at baseline assessment ≥ 1.3x
    2. Normal or elevated plasma ACTH levels
    3. Pituitary adenoma > 4mm visible on MRI or inferior petrosal sinus sampling (IPSS) central to peripheral ACTH gradient >2 at baseline and/or >2 after DDAVP stimulation.
    4. Recurrent or persistent CD defined as confirmed previously resected pituitary ACTH-secreting tumor, and 24 hour UFC >ULN at least 4 weeks after pituitary surgery.
    5. Patients on medical treatment for CD. will be completed as below before screening: Inhibitors of steroidogenesis (metyrapone, ketoconazole, osilodristat,

      • Levo-ketoconazole): 2 weeks
      • SRLs (pasireotide): 2 weeks
      • Progesterone receptor antagonist (mifepristone): 2 weeks
      • Dopamine agonists (cabergoline): 4 weeks
      • strong inducers or inhibitors: varies between drugs; minimum 5-6 times the half-life of drug

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with compromised visual fields, or evidence of visual changes within past 6 months
  • Patients with sellar tumor abutting or compressing the optic chiasm on MRI and normal visual fields
  • Patients with Cushing's syndrome not due to an ACTH-secreting pituitary tumor
  • Patients who have undergone major surgery including pituitary surgery within 1 month of screening or who have any major surgical procedures planned across the study period
  • Patients with serum potassium \< 3.5 mEq/L unless stably controlled on potassium supplementation
  • Patients with poorly-controlled Diabetes mellitus evidenced by levels >8
  • Patients with poorly controlled hypertension (i.e. blood pressure ≥ 160/100 mm Hg)
  • Patients who have cardiovascular impairment, as evidenced by the presence of bradycardia, ventricular tachycardia, history of myocardial infarction within past year, or any other cardiovascular impairment that may pose significant health risk in view of the investigator.
  • Patients with liver disease or history of liver disease such as cirrhosis, chronic active and C, or chronic persistent hepatitis, or patients with or AST >1.5 x , serum total >ULN, serum albumin \<0.67 x LLN at screening
  • Patients with renal disease or history of renal disease with of 30 cm3/min or less and/or creatinine > 1.5 mg/dl at screening
  • Patients not biochemically euthyroid. Patients receiving thyroid-replacement therapy must be on a stable dose for at least 3 months.
  • Patients who are known to be positive for , or any other condition that significantly compromises subject's immune system.
  • History of alcohol abuse or illicit substance use within past year.
  • Female patients who are pregnant or lactating or are of unless willing to practice acceptable method of . Women participating in the trial must employ double barrier method through oral contraceptive or diaphragm with partner utilizing a condom. Abstinence is an acceptable form of birth control if routinely practiced. Male participants must utilize a condom with spermicidal cap/jelly and agree to not donate sperm for up to 3 months beyond main study period.
  • Patients who have participated in any clinical investigation with an drug within 1 month prior to screening or within 5 half-lives of the investigational treatment whichever is longer.
  • Patients with concomitant treatment of strong inducers or inhibitors.
  • Patients who have received pituitary irradiation within the last 5 years prior to the baseline visit
  • Patients with known hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) positivity
  • Patients with known antibody (anti-HCV) positivity
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Fimepinostat 60mg

    two 30mg capsules once a day, 10 subjects

    Drug: Fimepinostat

  • Active comparator
    Fimepinostat 30mg

    single 30mg capsule daily in 10 subjects

    Drug: Fimepinostat

Interventions

  • The study will allow us to determine the efficacy and safety of these doses in the treatment of Cushing Disease (CD) and guide dose selection for subsequent, larger studies.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of participants with mUFC ≤ 1.0xULN

    4 week UFC calculated as the mean of three 24h UFC specimens collected on consecutive days between day 24-28

    Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of participants with normalization (values within normal limits) or >50% improvement from baseline in 24h UFC, plasma ACTH, serum and salivary cortisol levels

    4 week UFC calculated as the mean of three 24h UFC specimens collected on consecutive days between day 24-28

    Time frame: Baseline, 4 weeks

  2. body weight change from baseline

    Time frame: Baseline, Day 28

  3. body mass index change from baseline

    Time frame: Baseline, Day 28

  4. Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure Change from baseline

    Time frame: Baseline, Day 28

  5. Cushing Disease health-related quality of life questionnaire (CushingQoL) change from baseline

    The CushingQoL is scored using a total score ranging from 0 to 100 with lower scores indicating a greater impact on QoL

    Time frame: Baseline, Day 28

  6. Beck Depression inventory second edition (BDIII) change from baseline

    Beck Depression scale is scored as follows 1-10 These ups and downs are considered normal. 11-16 Mild mood disturbances. 17-20 borderline clinical depression. 21-30 Moderate depression. 31-40 Severe depression

    Time frame: Baseline, Day 28

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Jan 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jan 2029, 48 months after the start.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jul 6, 2023
First posted
Aug 2, 2023
StartActual
Jan 16, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Jan 2029
CompletionEst.
Jan 2029
Last update
Jul 17, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 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
NCT05971758
Responsible party
Anthony P. Heaney (Professor-in-Residence, Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 2, 2023
Start date
Jan 16, 2025
Primary completion
Jan 2029 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Jul 17, 2026

Study contacts

Anthony Heaney, MD
Contact
aheaney@mednet.ucla.edu
310-825-5874
Joellen Bragasin, BS
Contact
JBragasin@mednet.ucla.edu
310-825-5874

Oversight

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

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