A new antibody doubled survival for stomach cancer patients whose first treatment had stopped working

When HER2-positive stomach cancer keeps growing after the standard drug trastuzumab, patients have had few good options. In a Phase III trial presented at the ESMO congress, the antibody anbenitamab paired with chemotherapy helped patients live a median of 19.6 months, compared with 9.6 months on chemotherapy alone, and shrank tumours in 56% of patients versus 14%. Side effects were more frequent on the new treatment — serious ones in about 74% of patients versus 55% — a trade-off doctors will weigh alongside the survival gain.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation