A Phase 2 interventional study of Alpelisib and Mirdametinib in Slow-Flow Vascular Malformation, Fast-Flow Vascular Malformation and Vascular Malformations, sponsored by Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Recruiting at 2 sites in Australia. Open to participants aged 2 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-05.
Sponsored by Murdoch Childrens Research Institute · Phase 2, Interventional, and Treatment
Recent studies have demonstrated that growth of vascular malformations can be driven by genetic variants in one of 2 signalling pathways. Targeted drugs specific to these pathways have been developed and shown to be effective in treating cancer. This study will describe the effectiveness of (i) 48 weeks of alpelisib therapy for participants with slow-flow vascular malformations and a gene mutation in one of these signalling pathways (module 1) and (ii) 48 weeks of mirdametinib therapy for participants with fast-flow vascular malformations and a gene mutations in the other signalling pathway (module 2).
TARGET-VM is a modular open-label, signal seeking, phase II trial of targeted therapies for patients with vascular malformations. Patients with vascular malformations which are refractory to standard therapies, or in whom standard therapy is not appropriate, are potentially eligible for the clinical trial. Vascular malformations will be classified as slow-flow or fast-flow lesions using established clinical criteria. Genetic testing to identify causative variants in genes affecting the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signalling pathway for slow-flow vascular malformations or the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) signalling pathway for fast-flow vascular malformations must be performed using research protocols or commercial testing assays that are external to this clinical trial.
The study consists of individual modules, each evaluating the clinical efficacy of 48 weeks of targeted therapy. The treatment modules are:
TARGET-VM will be conducted only in Victoria, Australia.
92 studies on the registry are indexed under Arteriovenous Malformations; 29 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 50 is above the median of 43 across 47 interventional studies indexed under Arteriovenous Malformations.
Browse Arteriovenous Malformations studies →Murdoch Childrens Research Institute is the lead sponsor of 99 studies on the registry; 34 are open to participants now.
Of its 5 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 3 (60%) have results posted.
Compared within Arteriovenous Malformations, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Vascular Malformations. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
MODULE 1
Inclusion Criteria:
Patient has received standard therapy for the vascular malformation or in which, in the opinion of the investigator, standard therapy is not appropriate
- Note: standard therapy may include treatment with sirolimus. A minimum of 14 days since the last dose of sirolimus is required prior to starting treatment with alpelisib
Adequate haematologic and end-organ function:
Patient agrees to abstinence or highly effective measures for males and women of (WOCBP)
Females who are of child-bearing potential, defined as all women physiologically capable of becoming pregnant, must use a highly effective method of contraception during study treatment and for at least 1 week after the last dose of any study treatment. Highly effective contraceptive methods include:
Exclusion Criteria:
Patient is currently receiving any of the following medications and cannot be discontinued 7 days prior to the start of treatment:
Known history of , uncontrolled heart disease and/or recent cardiac events including:
MODULE 2
Inclusion Criteria:
Patient has received standard therapy for the vascular malformation or in which, in the opinion of the investigator, standard therapy is not appropriate
- Note: standard therapy may include treatment with sirolimus. A minimum of 14 days since the last dose of sirolimus is required prior to starting treatment with mirdametinib
Adequate haematologic and end-organ function:
Patient agrees to abstinence or highly effective contraceptive measures if of childbearing potential (WOCBP)
Females who are of child-bearing potential, defined as all individuals physiologically capable of becoming pregnant, must use a highly effective method of contraception during study treatment and for at least 180 days after the last dose of any study treatment. Highly effective contraceptive methods include:
Exclusion Criteria:
Patient has a history of, or evidence of, retinal pathology on ophthalmologic examination that is considered a risk factor for central serous retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion (RVO), or neovascular macular degeneration. Patients will be excluded from study participation if they have any of the following risk factors for RVO at Screening:
Age specific hypertension
Known history of clinically significant, uncontrolled heart disease and/or recent (within 6 months [24 weeks] of signing informed consent/assent) cardiac events including:
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.
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.
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.
The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.
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).
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.
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.
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.
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
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.
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.
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
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.
The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.
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.
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Life expectancy
The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Excipients
The other ingredients in a medicine besides the active drug, such as fillers, colours or preservatives.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Child-Pugh class
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
NYHA class (heart failure)
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction)
The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Slow-flow vascular malformations with identified causative variants in the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signalling pathway will receive alpelisib (provided by Novartis Pharmaceuticals), an oral alpha-specific PI3-kinase inhibitor for a total duration of 48 weeks as monotherapy, followed by 24 weeks of follow-up.
Drug: Alpelisib
Fast-flow vascular malformations with identified causative variants in the RAS-MEK-ERK signalling pathway will receive mirdametinib (provided by SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc.), an investigational oral MEK inhibitor for a total duration of 48 weeks as monotherapy, followed by 24 weeks of follow-up.
Drug: Mirdametinib
Oral alpha-specific PI3-kinase inhibitor
Also known as: BYL719
An investigational oral MEK inhibitor
The number of participants who achieve or exceed a predetermined threshold of improvement in their most significant symptom at 48 weeks based on the Vascular Malformation Patient Specific Outcome Measure (VM-PSOM).
Vascular malformations present with a range of different symptoms. Therefore, there is no single outcome measure that can capture the effectiveness of a systemic treatment across different patients. Thus for this study, an individualised primary outcome for each patient informed by their symptoms will be used, termed the Vascular Malformation Patient Specific Outcome Measure (VM-PSOM). The study "Outcome Committee" will define an individualised primary outcome for each patient informed by their symptoms and vascular malformation features prior to starting trial treatments. The VM-PSOM endpoint will therefore define a binary outcome for each patients (achieved or failed to reach the threshold improvement in the chosen measure).
Time frame: At 48 weeks
The number of participants who achieve or exceed a predetermined threshold of improvement in their most significant symptom at the 168-day timepoint based on the Vascular Malformation Patient Specific Outcome Measure (VM-PSOM).
VM-PSOM response at the 168 day follow-up visit assessment compared with the 48 week (end-of-treatment) VM-PSOM.
Time frame: 48 weeks, 168-day follow-up
The number of participants with an objective response (defined as ≥ 20% reduction from index date in the sum of measurable target lesion volume) by volumetric analysis on MRI.
Objective response rate by volumetric MRI assessment comparing 48 week (end-of-treatment) MRI with baseline MRI. MRI scan will only be performed in patients where their vascular malformation is feasibly evaluable by MRI scan. Objective response is defined as ≥ 20% reduction from index date in the sum of measurable target lesion volume by volumetric analysis on MRI.
Time frame: Baseline, 48 weeks
Change in symptoms score as recorded on the OVAMA (Outcome measures for VAscular MAlformations) questionnaire.
The mean scores in the OVAMA (Outcome measures for VAscular MAlformations) questionnaire will be calculated and analysed at specified time points. This is a set of questions developed specifically to measure symptom burden from vascular malformations. These questions are open-ended to allow the subject to describe how they feel. The questions are more tightly structured to allow comparison of answers to other people with vascular malformations. The questions have been designed in a way to determine if symptoms are getting better over time.
Time frame: Time frame: Baseline, 48 weeks
Change in symptoms score as recorded on the OVAMA (Outcome measures for VAscular MAlformations) which is a set of questions developed specifically to measure symptom burden from vascular malformations.
The mean scores in the OVAMA (Outcome measures for VAscular MAlformations) questionnaire will be calculated and analysed at specified time points.
Time frame: Time frame: 48 weeks, Day 168 follow-up
The number of patients who experience adverse events as defined by National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI-CTCAE) v5.
Time frame: From Baseline to Day 168 follow-up
Plan to share: Yes — From 6 months post analysis and article publication, the following will be made available long-term for use by future researchers from a recognised research institution whose proposed use of the data has been ethically reviewed and approved by an independent committee and who accept The Murdoch Children's Research Institute's (MCRI) conditions for access: Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article after de-identification Trial protocol, Statistical Analysis Plan, PICF The Sponsor-Investigator will be the long-term custodian after the archive period has finished.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form
Time frame: Available from 6 months following analysis and article publication
Access criteria: Future researchers must be from a recognised research institution whose proposed use of the data has been ethically reviewed and approved by an independent committee and who accept MCRI's conditions for access
Started Sep 2024 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jan 2027, 28 months after the start.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
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Studies of the drugs tested here: Alpelisib · Mirdametinib
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute