Ramucirumab for metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer: results and implications of the REGARD trial

• Published in: Future oncology (London, England) Vol. 10; no. 9; p. 1549
• Main Authors: Liguigli, Wanda, Tomasello, Gianluca, Toppo, Laura, Ratti, Margherita, Passalacqua, Rodolfo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01-07-2014
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma - drug therapy; Adenocarcinoma - mortality; Adenocarcinoma - secondary; Antibodies, Monoclonal - therapeutic use; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Disease-Free Survival; Esophagogastric Junction - pathology; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Peritoneal Neoplasms - drug therapy; Peritoneal Neoplasms - mortality; Peritoneal Neoplasms - secondary; Proportional Hazards Models; Ramucirumab; Stomach Neoplasms - drug therapy; Stomach Neoplasms - mortality; Stomach Neoplasms - pathology; Treatment Outcome; gastric cancer; REGARD; ramucirumab
• ISSN: 1744-8301
• DOI: 10.2217/fon.14.106

Gastric cancer is a highly aggressive disease. In metastatic setting, median overall survival, even with modern chemotherapy regimens, generally does not exceed 1 year and toxicity is a major concern. Angiogenesis plays a crucial role in cancer development and progression, and VEGF is one of the most important mediators of this process. Ramucirumab, an anti-VEGFR-2 antibody, has been recently evaluated in the large Phase III REGARD trial, demonstrating a significant survival benefit in second-line treatment of patients with advanced gastric or gastro-eosophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, treatment with ramucirumab was associated with very few toxic effects. This article will review the main findings of the REGARD trial and discuss their potential impact on future treatment of metastatic gastric cancer.