Dr. Chau on Ramucirumab Plus Pembrolizumab for Gastric/GEJ Cancer

Ian Chau, MD, consultant medical oncologist, Royal Marsden Hospital, discusses interim safety and clinical activity results in patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma from a multi-cohort phase I study of ramucirumab plus pembrolizumab (Keytruda).

Most of the patients participating in the study were heavily pre-treated, with the majority being treated in the third-line setting. The combination of ramucirumab plus pembrolizumab was very well tolerated, Chau says, with hardly any treatment-related grade 3 toxicities observed.

In terms of efficacy, though there are only short-term follow-up results as of now, 4 objectives responses were observed, which represents 10% of the patients. Though it may not seem like a high percentage, Chau says, many patients demonstrated prolonged disease stabilization.

At this time, investigators are still waiting for mature data for progression-free survival and overall survival. Those results will help determine how to move forward with future development of the ramucirumab/pembrolizumab combination.