Antibody-Based Therapy Promising Against This

Antibody-Based Therapy Promising Against This

Patients with advanced disease lived longer when they received this targeted treatment, research shows

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

SUNDAY, June 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental therapy based on immune-system antibodies is helping some people with advanced stomach cancer live longer, a new study finds.

The phase 2 clinical trial, involving 161 patients, focused on an antibody called IMAB362.

The median survival of people using the treatment plus standard chemotherapy was more than 13 months, compared with 8.4 months for those who received chemotherapy alone, the researchers reported.

One specialist in gastric (stomach) cancer care believes therapeutic advances are sorely needed.

"Metastatic gastric cancer carries a poor prognosis and the treatment effectiveness of current chemotherapeutic agents leave a lot to be desired," said Dr. David Bernstein, chief of hepatology at Northwell Health in Manhasset, N.Y.

While a larger, more rigorous trial is still needed, "this study is quite encouraging that this type of therapy may be effective in treating this disease," he said.

The IMAB362 antibody employed in this new treatment targets a protein on cancer cells called claudin 18.2. German researchers found that study patients who had the highest levels of this protein in tumors prior to receiving the new treatment had an even longer median overall survival, at almost 17 months.

The study was to be presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), in Chicago. The research was funded by drug maker Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG.

Study lead researcher Dr. Salah-Eddin Al-Batran directs the Institute of Clinical Cancer Research at Nordwest Hospital in Frankfurt. In an ASCO news release, he said that since "claudin 18.2 is abundant in gastric tumors, we estimate that half of all patients with advanced gastric cancer may be candidates for this new treatment."

In addition, he said, "this unique target is not present in any healthy tissues except the lining of the stomach, thereby minimizing treatment side effects."

According to the researchers, a larger, phase 3 study in stomach cancer patients is scheduled to begin in early 2017.

IMAB362 is the first antibody to target claudin 18.2, which is also found in a number of other cancers, including pancreatic, lung, esophageal and ovarian tumors. Because of this, the same research team said it plans a phase 2 study of IMAB362 in patients with pancreatic cancers.

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