ClinicalTrials.gg
Not yet recruitingNCT07785856RAGEUpdated Aug 25, 2026

Study of Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (T-DXd) in Combination With a RAGE Inhibitor in Patients With T-DXd-Resistant HER2-Positive or HER2-Low Metastatic Breast Cancer

A Phase 1/2 interventional study of Azeliragon and T-DXd in T-dxd Resistant HER2-Positive and HER2 Low Metastatic Breast Cancer, sponsored by The Methodist Hospital Research Institute. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-25.

Sponsored by The Methodist Hospital Research Institute · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment

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Phase
Phase 1/2
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
27
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-14

Among 12 studies in Breast Neoplasms by The Methodist Hospital Research Institute — 3 open to participants now, 5 under way, none of them phase 3. Breast Neoplasms · The Methodist Hospital Research Institute.

Planned enrollment
11th of 11
27 · median 36
Started
2026
the only one that year
Phase 1/2
2 of 12
1 open now
Registered
12th of 12
by date

Among the 12 studies in Breast Neoplasms by The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, this one is the 11th largest by planned enrollment of the 11 interventional ones that give a count, is the only one that started in 2026, is one of 2 in phase 1/2, and was the 12th registered.

Breast Neoplasms

14,832 studies on the registry are indexed under Breast Neoplasms; 3,320 are open to participants now.

Browse Breast Neoplasms studies →

Open to participants now

3 of the 12 studies in Breast Neoplasms by The Methodist Hospital Research Institute are open now, in 1 country. Recruiting first, the newest first:

By country, each count listing its studies:

All 3 open studies →

Where they have run

Who these studies take

Of the 2,399 Breast Neoplasms studies recruiting now, 1,570 (65%) set no upper age limit and 592 (25%) stop at 75 or younger; 103 take children under 18; 215 take healthy volunteers.

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

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02

Study summary

This phase Ib/II trial aims to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of combining Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (T-DXd) with Azeliragon, a receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) inhibitor in patients with T-DXd-resistant HER2-positive or HER2-low metastatic breast cancer at Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center (HMNCC). Adults, 18 years of age or older, with histologically confirmed HER2-positive or HER2-low metastatic breast cancer with prior progression on T-DXd will be eligible to participate in the study.

Read the detailed description

This phase Ib/II trial aims to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of combining Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (T-DXd) with Azeliragon, a receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) inhibitor in patients with T-DXd-resistant HER2-positive or HER2-low metastatic breast cancer at Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center (HMNCC). Adults, 18 years of age or older, with histologically confirmed HER2-positive or HER2-low metastatic breast cancer with prior progression on T-DXd will be eligible to participate in the study.

In phase Ib part of the study, 12 patients will be administered standard T-DXd (5.4 mg/kg intravenously [IV] every 3 weeks [q3w]) plus escalating oral doses of the RAGE inhibitor Azeliragon (starting dose 5, 10, 20 mg, orally, daily) in a BOIN design to determine the recommended phase II dose (RP2D) of T-DXd and Azeliragon. In phase II part of the study, 15 patients will receive T-DXd (5.4 mg/kg IV q3w) plus the RP2D of Azeliragon. If patients are on a lower dose of T-DXd prior to trial enrollment due to adverse events the same low dose can be continued for the trial. HER2 ultra-low patients can be included as well.

The doses for Azeliragon are as follows:

  • Starting Dose Level 1: Loading Dose for 6 Days is 15mg once daily; Maintenance Dose for days 7 and onward 5mg once daily
  • Dose level 2: Loading dose for 6 days is 15mg twice daily; maintenance dose for days 7 and onward is 10mg once daily
  • Dose level 3: Loading dose for 6 days is 30 mg twice daily; maintenance dose for days 7 and onward is 20mg once daily

In phase II part of the study, 15 patients will receive T-DXd (5.4 mg/kg IV q3w) plus the RP2D of Azeliragon. If patients are on a lower dose of T-DXd prior to trial enrollment due to adverse events the same low dose can be continued for the trial. The total study duration will be 2 years. The primary endpoint of phase Ib will be the assessment of the safety, tolerability, and RP2D of T-DXd plus a RAGE inhibitor (e.g. Azeliragon). The primary endpoint of phase II will be the evaluation of the objective response rate (ORR) of the combination therapy in patients with documented T-DXd resistance. Secondary endpoints will include assessment of progression-free survival (PFS), duration of response (DoR), Quality of life (QOL), PFS2, overall survival (OS) and intracranial response rate in patients with brain metastases. This single-arm, open-label, phase Ib/II study conducted at HMNCC aims to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of combining T-DXd with a RAGE inhibitor in patients with T-DXd-resistant metastatic breast cancer, with the goal of overcoming drug resistance and improving clinical outcomes.

03

Conditions studied

  • T-dxd Resistant HER2-Positive
  • HER2 Low Metastatic Breast Cancer

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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. Male or female ≥18 years of age at time of consent.
  2. Written is required before performing any trial-specific tests or procedures. Signing of the informed consent form can occur outside the 28-day screening period.
  3. confirmed -positive or HER2-low or ultra low breast cancer.
  4. Prior systemic progression in metastatic setting on T-DXd and have per v1.1 Criteria.
  5. performance status of 0-2 at time of consent.
  6. Hematology laboratory values of:

    1. ≥ 1500 cells/mm3
    2. ≥100,000 cells/mm3
    3. ≥9 g/dL
    4. White blood count ≥3000 cells/mm3.
  7. Hepatic laboratory values of (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT):

    1. \<5 × (ULN) if the documented history of hepatic metastases; or
    2. \<2.5 × ULN if no liver metastases are present.
  8. Serum albumin >2.8 g/dL.
  9. Total \<1.7 mg/dL × ULN.
  10. (PT) or international normalized ratio (INR) \<1.5 × ULN. Note: Patients receiving therapeutic doses of anticoagulant therapy may be considered eligible if PT and INR are within the acceptable institutional therapeutic limits.
  11. Serum creatinine or serum urea \<1.5 × ULN.
  12. Estimated >50 mL/min.
  13. Urine dipstick or urinalysis with protein \<2+ or 24-hour urine protein \<1.0 g/24-h. Subjects with 1+ proteinuria must undergo a 24-hour urine collection to assess urine protein level.
  14. Any allowed if stable. Brain metastases needing immediate local intervention allowed. Patients can still be included after local intervention like radiation or surgery if there are any other sites of systemic progressive metastases. Patients must wait for at least 2 weeks after intracranial SRS before beginning study treatment)
  15. Patients of must agree to use an adequate method of during the study and for 30 days after the last dose of study treatment.
  16. Patients must be able to swallow oral capsules
  17. Willing to able to comply with study procedures.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Positive pregnancy test, pregnant, or breastfeeding for all women of .
  2. Per treating physician's assessment, any other laboratory abnormality that would compromise patient safety or the outcome of the study.
  3. Any clinically significant and/or uncontrolled pathologic cardiac-related abnormality that would compromise patient safety or the outcome of the study including, but not limited to:

    1. Symptomatic valvular disease
    2. Symptomatic congestive heart failure is classified by the as Class III or IV
    3. Unstable angina pectoris.
  4. Myocardial infarction within the past 6 months from consent.
  5. Active bleeding diathesis.
  6. Receiving chronic treatment with ≥20 mg of prednisone per day (or equivalent) or other systemic agents. Topical or nasal corticosteroids are allowed.
  7. Uncontrolled surface antigen, antibody, or (HIV)-1 or HIV-2.
  8. History of galactose intolerance, deficiency of Lapp lactase, or glucose-galactose malabsorption.
  9. History of or active treatment for malignancy other than breast cancer (i.e., radiation or chemotherapy, including monoclonal antibodies) within 5 years. Note: Patients with squamous or basal cell carcinomas of the skin, carcinomas in situ of the cervix or uterus, ductal breast cancer in situ, resected low-grade prostate cancer, or other malignancies that in the opinion of the investigator are considered cured may participate.
  10. Receipt of live, attenuated vaccine (e.g., intranasal influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella) or close contact with someone who has received a live, attenuated vaccine within the past 1 month from consent. Note: Influenza vaccine will be allowed if administered >21 days.
  11. Receipt of any agent or study treatment within the past 30 days from consent for a condition other than breast cancer.
  12. Receipt of any protein or antibody-based therapeutic agents (e.g., growth hormones or monoclonal antibodies) within the past 3 months from consent for a condition other than breast cancer.
  13. Active infection requiring treatment (patients can be included as soon as they are off antibiotics; no )
  14. Adults unable to consent
  15. Intracranial oligo progression alone (if patient is only progressing in the brain and not systemically, he/she cannot be included in the study)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(28)

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.

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.

HER2

HER2 is a protein, made from the ERBB2 gene, that drives the growth of some cancers. A study may look for a level of the protein, extra copies of the gene, or a particular change in it.

In breast cancer, protein tests are read as HER2-positive, HER2-low or HER2-negative; other cancers use their own rules. Check which test result the study requires.

Metastases

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)

Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.

Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.

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.

Brain metastases

Cancer deposits in the brain from a cancer that started elsewhere in the body (CNS metastases include the spinal cord).

Studies differ: some leave out any brain metastases, some accept ones treated and stable for some weeks. Check what this study allows.

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.

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.

NYHA class (heart failure)

The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.

I
No limits: ordinary activity causes no undue tiredness or breathlessness.
II
Slight limits: comfortable at rest, ordinary activity causes symptoms.
III
Marked limits: comfortable at rest, less than ordinary activity causes symptoms.
IV
Symptoms even at rest; any activity makes them worse.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1 / Phase 2
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Sequential assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
27 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Azeliragon

    In phase Ib part of the study, 12 patients will be administered standard T-DXd (5.4 mg/kg intravenously \[IV\] every 3 weeks \[q3w\]) plus escalating oral doses of the RAGE inhibitor Azeliragon (starting dose 5, 10, 20 mg, orally, daily) in a BOIN design to determine the recommended phase II dose (RP2D) of T-DXd and Azeliragon. In phase II part of the study, 15 patients will receive T-DXd (5.4 mg/kg IV q3w) plus the RP2D of Azeliragon. If patients are on a lower dose of T-DXd prior to trial enrollment due to adverse events the same low dose can be continued for the trial. HER2 ultra-low patients can be included as well.

    Drug: Azeliragon · Drug: T-DXd

Interventions

  • * Starting Dose Level 1: Loading Dose for 6 Days is 15mg once daily; Maintenance Dose for days 7 and onward 5mg once daily * Dose level 2: Loading dose for 6 days is 15mg twice daily; maintenance dose for days 7 and onward is 10mg once daily * Dose level 3: Loading dose for 6 days is 30 mg twice daily; maintenance dose for days 7 and onward is 20mg once daily

  • DrugT-DXd

    5.4 mg/kg IV q3w

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. RP2D of Azeligaron

    Phase Ib (Dose Escalation): To assess the safety, tolerability (according to the NCI CTCAE (v6.0)) and to determine the RP2D of T-DXd plus a RAGE inhibitor (Azeliragon) in patients with T-DXd-resistant HER2-positive or HER2-low metastatic breast cancer.

    Time frame: From time of enrollment to end of cycle 1 (3 weeks)

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Start is estimated for Dec 2026; primary completion for Dec 2028, 24 months later.

Of 166 non-industry phase 1/2 interventional studies under Breast Neoplasms, half reached primary completion within 67 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 45 and three quarters within 95. This study's planned 24 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 327 studies reached it within 61 months; a quarter within 45 and three quarters within 88.

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

Registered
Aug 21, 2026
First posted
Aug 25, 2026
StartEst.
Dec 2026
Primary completionEst.
Dec 2028
CompletionEst.
Dec 2029
Last update
Aug 25, 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 Aug 25, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07785856
Responsible party
AkshjotP (Breast Medical Oncologist, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 25, 2026
Start date
Dec 2026 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 2028 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 25, 2026

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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