David H. Ilson, MD, PhD

David H. Ilson, MD, PhD, an attending physician and professor of medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the current role of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma based on the results of the KEYNOTE-062 trial.

Although PD-L1 is thought to be somewhat of a predictive biomarker in patients with microsatellite stable disease, the response rates were higher in this subset of patients with a combined positive score of 10 or higher, says Ilson. The response rates were even slightly higher in those patients who received pembrolizumab and chemotherapy, but there was no improvement in survival compared with chemotherapy alone.

The problem with upfront pembrolizumab is that a vast majority of the patients will progress and cross over to chemotherapy early on. However, Ilson argues that this is not a fair comparison because virtually all patients that receive pembrolizumab initially will also get chemotherapy within a few months.

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David H. Ilson, MD, PhD, discusses the current role of pembrolizumab in patients with gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma based on the results from the KEYNOTE-062 trial.

KEYNOTE-062 Highlights Role of Pembrolizumab in Gastric/GEJ Cancer Subtypes

David H. Ilson, MD, PhD, attending physician and professor of medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the main takeaway from the data for the phase III TAGS trial reported at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Treatment with TAS-102 (trifluridine/tipiracil; FTD/TPI; Lonsurf) modestly improved progression-free survival and overall survival in patients with refractory gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. However, Ilson says this is more of a stabilizing drug since there weren&rsquo;t really any responses.

Quality of life data in the original trial also showed a slow decline in performance status with TAS-102 compared to placebo. Ilson says this will likely be a good option for patients with refractory disease who do not have other treatment options.

David H. Ilson, MD, PhD, discusses the main takeaway from the data for phase III TAGS trial reported at the 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

David H. Ilson, MD, PhD | Authors

Articles

KEYNOTE-062 Highlights Role of Pembrolizumab in Gastric/GEJ Cancer Subtypes

Expert Shares Main Takeaway From Phase III TAGS Trial in Patients With Gastric/GEJ Cancer