ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06789159Updated Sep 2, 2026

A Phase Ib Study of VK-2019 in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory EBV+ Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphomas (DLBCL)

A Phase 1 interventional study of VK-2019 in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Refractory, Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Relapsed and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) Infection, sponsored by Pierluigi Porcu. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-02.

Sponsored by Pierluigi Porcu · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Aug 2026; still recruiting 2 months later.

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Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
30
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-13

Among 76 studies in Epstein-Barr Virus Infections with a site in United States — 19 open to participants now, 25 under way, 2 of them phase 3. Epstein-Barr Virus Infections · United States.

Planned enrollment
28th of 63
30 · median 25
Started
2026
with 1 other
Phase 1
19 of 76
8 open now
Primary completion
2028-10
later than 15 of 23 live
Registered
72nd of 76
by date

Among the 76 studies in Epstein-Barr Virus Infections with a site in United States, this one is the 28th largest by planned enrollment of the 63 interventional ones that give a count, is one of 2 that started in 2026, is one of 19 in phase 1, reaches primary completion later than 15 of the 23 other live ones, and was the 72nd registered.

Epstein-Barr Virus Infections

175 studies on the registry are indexed under Epstein-Barr Virus Infections; 60 are open to participants now.

Browse Epstein-Barr Virus Infections studies →

Open to participants now

19 of the 76 studies in Epstein-Barr Virus Infections with a site in United States are open now. Recruiting first, the newest first:

13 more — sign in →

All 19 open studies →

A study can be open while its sites in United States have not opened yet or have stopped. Only those recruiting at a site in United States →

Who these studies take

Of the 43 Epstein-Barr Virus Infections studies recruiting now, 23 (53%) set no upper age limit and 16 (37%) stop at 75 or younger; 23 take children under 18; 6 take healthy volunteers.

This study: 18 Years and older · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.

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02

Study summary

This is a Phase Ib in adult patients with relapsed or refractory EBV-positive DLBCL using daily oral dosing of VK-2019 in three dose escalation cohorts: 600 mg/day, 1200 mg/day, 1800 mg/day for 28 days (cycle), until progression or toxicity.

Read the detailed description

This is an open label, dose-escalation phase Ib study with biomarker assessments to determine the safety and tolerability of single agent VK-2019 in patients with relapsed or refractory EBV-positive lymphomas.

Each treatment cycle is comprised of a daily dose of VK-2019 administered orally for 28 days with a response assessment every 3 cycles. All subjects will be monitored for survival for 3 years.

VK-2019 will be administered daily starting on day 1 of cycle 1 (D1C1). Dose cohort A will dose at 600 mg dose cohort B 1200 mg and dose cohort C 1800 mg. Treatment cycles will repeat every 28 days , in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Should dose cohort 1 result in unacceptable toxicity, the protocol will be amended to include a dose (-1) cohort of VK-2019 given in the same fashion as above.

Patients who achieve at least stable disease (SD, PR, or CR) after completing 3 cycles can continue receiving therapy. Patients who have progressive disease (PD) after cycle 3 will discontinue protocol treatment. All patients will be followed for a total of 3 years.

Protocol therapy will be discontinued at any time if a patient withdraws consent, has progressive disease, unacceptable toxicity, or pregnancy is suspected.

This record and the grant was transferred from Thomas Jefferson. No participants were enrolled at this site.

03

Conditions studied

  • Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Refractory
  • Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Relapsed
  • Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) Infection
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. obtained prior to any protocol mandated assessment.
  2. Age ≥ 18 years.
  3. Patient must have EBV-positive DLBCL after a minimum of 2 prior regimens of systemic therapy.
  4. Patient must have exhausted all available standard of care treatment options that could potentially provide clinical benefit.
  5. Toxicities related to prior therapy must have returned to Grade 1 or less, or if chronic must be stable. Peripheral neuropathy must be Grade 2 or less
  6. Prior anti-cancer treatment must have been completed greater than 2 weeks prior to study day 1.
  7. Patients must have , as defined by IWG 2007 criteria.
  8. performance status score of ≤2
  9. Adequate organ function as defined by the following criteria:

    1. > 1,500/microl (stable off any growth factor within 1 week of study drug administration)
    2. > 9 g/dL (transfusion to achieve this level is permitted)
    3. count > 75,000/microl (transfusion to achieve this level is NOT permitted)
    4. Serum (AST) and serum alanine transaminase (ALT) ≤ 2.5 x (ULN);
    5. Total serum ≤ 1.5 x ULN;
    6. ≥ 60 ml/min as calculated per Cockcroft and Gault equation.
    7. Urinary protein \< 2+ by dipstick. If dipstick ≥ 2+, then a 24-hour urine collection can be done, and the patient may enter only if urinary protein is \< 1 g/24 hour;
  10. Sexually active patients will agree to utilize method during the study and for 18 weeks after the study is concluded, using effective birth control methods as defined in https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/unintendedpregnancy/pdf/contraceptive_methods_508.pdf. See Protocol Appendix C.
  11. Willingness and ability to comply with the study scheduled visits, treatment plans, laboratory tests and other procedures.

Exclusion criteria

4.2 Exclusion Criteria

  1. Patients with severe or active symptomatic cardiopulmonary diseases (unstable angina and/or congestive heart failure or peripheral vascular disease within the last 12 months; exacerbation other respiratory illness requiring hospitalization) or psychiatric disorders; patents with effectively treated conditions (e.g. stenting for CAD) are eligible.
  2. Patients with disease with active central nervous system (CNS) involvement, defined as parenchymal brain or .
  3. Concurrent administration of herbal preparations.
  4. A serious uncontrolled medical disorder or active infection which would impair the ability of the subject to receive protocol therapy or whose control may be jeopardized by the complications of this therapy.
  5. Patients currently taking drugs that inhibit or induce OATP1B1 or OATP1B3 within 5 half- lives of that agent. Examples are included in Appendix B.
  6. Patients currently taking drugs that are proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) within 5 half- lives of that agent. Examples are included in Appendix B.
  7. Patients who have received a prior organ allograft or bone marrow transplant are eligible but must have no evidence of active and be off drugs.
  8. Current non-prescription drug or alcohol dependence;
  9. For all female patients, pregnancy or breastfeeding.
  10. All female patients with must have a negative pregnancy test (serum or urine) prior to enrollment.
  11. Other severe acute or chronic medical or psychiatric condition or laboratory abnormality that may increase the risk associated with study participation or study drug administration, or may interfere with the interpretation of study results, or in the judgment of the investigator would make the patient inappropriate for entry into the study.
  12. Patients with by Fridericia's formula (QTcF) of >470 ms are excluded.
  13. Patients with Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disease (PTLD) are excluded.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(21)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

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.

Metastases

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

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.

Allogeneic and autologous transplant

Stem cell (bone marrow) transplants. Allogeneic uses cells from a donor; autologous uses your own cells, collected earlier and given back.

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.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
30 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Treatment (VK-2019 Dose 600mg)

    Dose cohort A will dose at 600mg. VK-2019 will be administered daily starting on day 1 of cycle 1 (D1C1). Dose cohort A will dose at 600 mg dose. Treatment cycles will repeat every 28 days , in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

    Drug: VK-2019

  • Experimental
    Treatment (VK-2019 Dose 1200mg)

    Dose cohort B will dose at 1200mg.VK-2019 will be administered daily starting on day 1 of cycle 1 (D1C1). Dose cohort B will dose at 1200 mg dose. Treatment cycles will repeat every 28 days , in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

    Drug: VK-2019

  • Experimental
    Treatment (VK-2019 Dose 1800mg)

    Dose cohort C will dose at 1800mg. VK-2019 will be administered daily starting on day 1 of cycle 1 (D1C1). Dose cohort C will dose at 1800 mg dose. Treatment cycles will repeat every 28 days , in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

    Drug: VK-2019

Interventions

  • VK-2019 will be administered daily starting on day 1 of cycle 1 (D1C1). Dose cohort A will dose at 600 mg dose cohort B 1200 mg and dose cohort C 1800 mg. Treatment cycles will repeat every 28 days , in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Safety Dose- Maximum Tolerated Dose

    • The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of single agent VK-2019 based upon treatment emergent AE (graded by the National Cancer Institute \[NCI\] Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events \[CTCAE\], Version 5.0).

    Time frame: At the end of Cycle 1 (each cycle is 28 days), until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. All Patients will be followed for a total of 3 years.

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Aug 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Oct 2028, 25 months after the start.

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

Registered
Jan 2, 2025
First posted
Jan 23, 2025
StartActual
Aug 21, 2026
Primary completionEst.
Oct 1, 2028
CompletionEst.
Oct 1, 2028
Last update
Sep 2, 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 Sep 2, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06789159
Lead sponsor
Pierluigi Porcu
Collaborators
National Cancer Institute (NCI), The Wistar Institute
Responsible party
Pierluigi Porcu (Professor, University of Kentucky) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Jan 23, 2025
Start date
Aug 21, 2026
Primary completion
Oct 1, 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Oct 1, 2028 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 2, 2026

Study contacts

Heather Pavlik
Contact
heather.schroer@uky.edu
859-323-2354
Pierluigi Porcu, MD
principal investigator · University of Kentucky

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: VK-2019

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