Study of the Safety and Efficacy of Ruxolitinib Cream for Non-Sclerotic Chronic Cutaneous Graft-Versus-Host Disease

July 8, 2026 updated by: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

A Pilot, Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blinded, Vehicle- and Comparator-Controlled Trial on Safety and Efficacy of a Topical Inhibitor of Janus Kinase 1/2 (Ruxolitinib INCB018424 Phosphate 1.5% Cream) for Non-Sclerotic Chronic Cutaneous Graft-Versus-Host Disease

The purpose of this study is to compare the safety and effects of ruxolitinib 1.5% cream with those of standard moisturizers in people with non-sclerotic chronic cutaneous GVHD.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
24

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

  • Name: Doris Ponce, MD
  • Phone Number: 212-639-4838

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10065
        • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

12 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients (≥ 12 years)
  • History of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
  • BSA of at least 2% of clinically or histologically confirmed non-sclerotic cutaneous chronic graft-versus-host disease (diagnosed and BSA calculated in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease Consensus for Clinical Trials: I. The 2014 Diagnosis and Staging Working Group Report)
  • Patients age ≥ 18 years must provide written informed consent; or patients age ≥12 years and <18 years must provide assent and have at least one guardian provide written informed consent to participate in the study.
  • Able to self-administer topical interventions or provide for another person to apply the topical interventions (while wearing nitrile gloves)
  • If on systemic therapy for GVHD, systemic therapy must be stable for past 4 weeks; however, any planned systemic corticosteroid taper during the study will be permitted.Changes in systemic therapy during the study period will be allowed for the management of non-skin GVHD.
  • Any concurrent topical therapies including topical corticosteroids, topical calcienurin inhibitors, moisturizers, phototherapy (narrowband UVB or UVA1); or excimer laser therapy must be discontinued on Study Day 0.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Known history of allergy to any ingredient of the study medication
  • Patients with deep sclerotic cutaneous graft-versus-host disease including deep sclerotic subtypes of chronic cutaneous GVHD
  • Use of concurrent topical therapy including topical corticosteroids, topical calcienurin inhibitors, moisturizers, phototherapy (narrowband UVB or UVA1); or excimer laser therapy after Study Day 0 up to and including Study Day 28.
  • Changes in systemic therapy during study period for the purpose of treating skin GVHD.

  • Special populations:

    • vulnerable populations e.g. decisionally impaired (cognitive, psychiatric), terminally ill, prisoners
    • patients who, in the opinion of the investigator have a condition that precludes their ability to provide an informed consent
  • Concurrent participation in another topical trial of a drug(s) or medical device, or the subject is in an exclusion period after a previous trial of drug(s) or medical device
  • Pregnancy or lactation
  • Patients with inadequate liver function (ALT above 4 × upper limit of normal [ULN] for the patient's age or direct bilirubin 4 × ULN for the patient's age and the laboratory abnormalities are considered to be due to underlying liver dysfunction) unless attributed to GVHD (if direct bilirubin is not in the medical record, it is acceptable to use total bilirubin x4 ULN).
  • Active uncontrolled infection requiring systemic therapy. Subjects with a controlled infection receiving definitive therapy for 48 hours prior to enrollment are eligible.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Participants with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)
Participants will have non-sclerotic chronic cutaneous graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or you have a condition called superficially sclerotic chronic cutaneous graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after having received an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant.
Drug: topical ruxolitinib 1.5% cream
Patients will be prescribed twice daily use of topical ruxolitinib 1.5% cream (randomized half of face/body) to a maximum of 20% BSA on each side for 28 ± 3 days. Topical ruxolitinib will be provided as topical cream. At the end of the 28 ± 3 days study visit, patients will remain blinded to treatment arms. After trial completion (day 28 ± 3 days), all patients will be offered repeated treatment cycle with topical ruxolitinib or standard of care therapy.
Other: Topical vehicle/moisturizer cream
Patients will be prescribed twice daily use of vehicle/moisturizer (for contralateral side of face/body) to a maximum of 20% BSA on each side for 28 ± 3 days.At the end of the 28 ± 3 days study visit, patients will remain blinded to treatment arms. After trial completion (day 28 ± 3 days), all patients will be offered repeated treatment cycle with topical ruxolitinib or standard of care therapy.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Reduction in Body Surface Area (BSA) From Day 1 and Day 28
Time Frame: 28 days (+/-3 days)
The difference in BSA of non-sclerotic cutaneous cGVHD between ruxolitinib treated side and vehicle treated sides of the face/body at study completion
28 days (+/-3 days)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Improvement in Physician's Global Assessment of Clinical Condition (PGA) at From Day 1 and Day 28
Time Frame: 28 days (+/-3 days)
The difference in the Physician's Global Assessment/PGA of non-sclerotic and superficially sclerotic cutaneous cGVHD between ruxolitinib treated side and vehicle treated sides of the face/body at study completion (day 28 visit). Grade of Rash as follows: Grade 0, Clinical Complete Response, Completely clear; NED (100% improvement); Grade 1-3, Partial Response, from very significant clearance to moderate improvement (>90% to >/= 50% improvement); Grade 4 and 5, Stable Disease, No change to some improvement (,50% to >/=25%); Grade 6, Progressive Disease, Disease is worse than at baseline evaluation by >/= 25%.
28 days (+/-3 days)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Incyte Corporation
Hackensack Meridian Health

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Alina Markova, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
May 14, 2019

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
February 6, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
February 6, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 15, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 15, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
May 17, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
July 10, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 8, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 18-412

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center supports the international committee of medical journal editors (ICMJE) and the ethical obligation of responsible sharing of data from clinical trials. The protocol summary, a statistical summary, and informed consent form will be made available on clinicaltrials.gov when required as a condition of Federal awards, other agreements supporting the research and/or as otherwise required. Requests for deidentified individual participant data can be made beginning 12 months after publication and for up to 36 months post publication. Deidentified individual participant data reported in the manuscript will be shared under the terms of a Data Use Agreement and may only be used for approved proposals. Requests may be made to: crdatashare@mskcc.org.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • SAP
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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