COVID-19 may have put some cancer studies on hold, but there have been plenty of advances in gastric cancer research this summer. Here is some exciting recent news:

Bristol Myers Squibb released impressive data from two trials of its drug Opdivo, which blocks the checkpoint protein PD-1 so the immune system can recognize and attack cancer. First, in patients with previously untreated gastric or esophageal cancer, adding Opdivo to chemotherapy improved both progression-free survival and overall survival. The chief investigator for the trial called the combinationa “new opportunity to improve survival for patients beyond standard chemotherapy.” And in patients who had undergone surgery for esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer, Opdivo significantly lengthened the disease-free survival period.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis found in a study that adding Herceptin to chemotherapy in gastric cancer patients with ERBB2-positive tumors produced a response rate of 85%.

Biosimilar Herceptin combined with chemotherapy and the immuno-oncology drug Keytruda reduced tumor size in a clinical trial in patients with HER2-positive gastric cancer.v