Experimental drug AR-42 tested on brain tumors – early results uncertain

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with vestibular schwannoma and/or meningioma diagnosed by MRI where surgical resection has been selected as treatment. * Patients diagnosed with NF2 must meet Manchester Criteria. * Age \> 18 years of age * Prior biologic therapy, chemotherapy, surgery or radiation is permitted. * At the time of screening, the patient must have normal organ and marrow function. * Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group/World Health Organization (ECOG/WHO) performance status of 0-1. * Patients must be able to swallow capsules. * Patients or their legal representatives must be able to read, understand and provide informed consent to participate in the trial. * Tumor type will be confirmed by a neuropathologist. * Females of childbearing potential (FCBP) must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test with a sensitivity of at least 50 mIU/mL prior to starting AR-42. * The patient must be willing to comply with fertility requirements Exclusion Criteria: * Pregnant women are excluded from this study because the potential for teratogenic or abortifacient effects of AR-42 are not known. Because there is an unknown but potential risk for AEs in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with AR-42, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with AR-42. * Pediatric patients are excluded from the phase 0 study as the effects of AR-42 are not known on children and there is no potential direct benefit to them. * Patients with malabsorption or any other condition that in the opinion of the principal investigator could cause difficulty in absorption of drug. * Patients requiring chronic corticosteroids (dose equivalent \> 20mg prednisolone). * Concurrent use of complementary or alternative medicines that in the opinion of the principal investigator would confound the interpretation of toxicities and/or antitumor activity of the study drug. * Patients with a "currently active" second malignancy that, in the opinion of the principal investigator, will interfere with patient participation, increase patient risk, or confound data interpretation. * Patients with a mean QTcB \> 450 msec in males and \> 470 msec in females. * Patients with long QT syndrome. * Patients who are being treated for an active infection. * Patients receiving the following concomitant medications: * Any other anti-neoplastic chemotherapy or biologic therapy during the study * Concomitant radiotherapy * Concomitant HDAC inhibitors (e.g. valproic acid) as class-specific adverse reactions may be additive * Use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors including G-CSF, pegylated G-CSF or GM-CSF should follow ASCO guidelines for patients receiving anti-cancer therapy. * Drugs associated with QT/QTc prolongation (see Appendix A) * Patients who are receiving concurrent anti-neoplastic therapy. * Any other medical condition, including mental illness or substance abuse, deemed by the principal investigator to likely interfere with a patient's ability to sign informed consent, cooperate and participate in the study, or interfere with the interpretation of the results. * Patients with significant cardiovascular disease, including a myocardial infarction or unstable angina within 6 months or unstable cardiac arrhythmias are not eligible for the study. * Known HIV infection, as their immunosuppressive conditions may complicate potential pancytopenias seen with HDAC inhibitors and complicate evaluation of drug effect.