Clinical trials confirm that a new drug called zolbetuximab can help extend survival in patients with gastric cancer, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“The results of these trials are very important for cancer research. They show that patients with advanced gastric cancer treated with zolbetuximab live longer. The progression of the disease is delayed. This is an important step forward for patients suffering from this serious and often fatal cancer,” said Professor Florian Lordick, Director of the University Cancer Center Leipzig. “We were able to offer the drug zolbetuximab early on in clinical trials at the University of Leipzig Medical Center. We treated many patients with advanced gastric cancer and reported positive results. We are now delighted that a targeted therapy with zolbetuximab has been approved by the European Medicines Agency following large phase III trials.”
The team conducted two trials in which over 1,000 patients worldwide were treated with zolbetuximab or a placebo. The results show that patients with advanced gastric cancer who received zolbetuximab plus chemotherapy survived longer than those who received chemotherapy alone. Treatment with zolbetuximab and chemotherapy significantly reduced the risk of disease progression and death by 29%.
All participants had gastric cancer with increased expression of the protein claudin 18.2, which the antibody zolbetuximab specifically targets. About a third of patients have high levels of claudin 18.2 in their gastric cancer. Still, this compound is rarely found in healthy tissue outside the stomach, making it an attractive tumor-specific treatment target.
This compound was developed in Germany more than a decade ago and has since gone through all stages of testing right up to the current clinical trials in humans. It’s administered as an intravenous infusion to people with advanced gastric cancer in combination with chemotherapy. The compound then travels through the bloodstream to the tumour cells that express claudin 18.2, where it binds to them and triggers an immune response that helps kill the tumour cells.
Shitara K, Shah MA, Lordick F, Van Cutsem E, Ilson DH, Klempner SJ, Kang YK, te al. (2024) Zolbetuximab in Gastric or Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma. N Engl J Med. 2024 Sep 26;391(12):1159-1162. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2409512