A new study has found that a new treatment, combined with chemotherapy, prolongs survival in patients with advanced stomach cancer.
- A new treatment would allow some patients with stomach cancer to prolong their survival.
- Combined with chemotherapy, zolbetuximab is more than 30% effective.
- The treatment could be commercialized in the near future.
While there are few targeted treatments for patients with stomach cancer, the discovery of American researchers could represent a real breakthrough.
Indeed, an international clinical trial published in Nature showed that a new targeted treatment called zolbetuximab, administered in combination with chemotherapy, allowed patients to live longer.
Stomach cancer: chances of survival are low
Stomach cancer is the 2nd most common cancer in the world, according to experts from the MSD Manual.
“Patients with cancer of the stomach or the junction between the esophagus and the stomach, called the gastroesophageal junction, usually have few symptoms in the early stages of the disease, so most of them they are diagnosed after the cancer has progressed or become metastatic”, recall the authors.
But according toUS National Cancer Institutethe five-year survival rate for patients with this cancer at this metastatic stage is approximately 7%.
Stomach cancer: the new treatment activates the immune system
Zolbetuximab is part of the monoclonal antibodies, antibodies selected for their effectiveness “to target a specific intruder, reproduced in large quantities in the laboratory so that they can be administered to those who need it“, explains theInserm.
When given intravenously, zolbetuximab binds to claudin 18.2 (CLDN18.2), a tight junction protein in the gastric mucosal epithelium, directly killing cancer cells and alerting the immune system to respond.
Zolbetuximab is more than 30% beneficial
The study was conducted between November 2018 and February 2022 at 166 sites across 18 countries. A total of 507 patients with locally advanced or metastatic stomach or gastroesophageal junction cancer were followed.
Zolbetuximab plus chemotherapy significantly increased patient survival by reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 31% compared to the combination of placebo plus chemotherapy.
Stomach cancer: Towards the commercialization of targeted treatment?
Furthermore, the addition of zolbetuximab doubled the odds of not having disease progression at 2 years (from 7% with placebo, to 14% with zolbetuximab).
These encouraging results, which add to those of a another study, prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant priority review to the manufacturer’s biolicense application and set January 12, 2024 as the date for the decision.
If approved, zolbetuximab will be the first targeted therapy in the United States for patients with this cancer.
