Trastuzumab deruxtecan in previously treated HER2-positive gastric cancer: a plain language summary of the DESTINY-Gastric01 study.

Abstract

This is a summary of the publication about the DESTINY-Gastric01 study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May 2020. The study included 187 adults in Japan and South Korea with gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction cancer that had high levels of a protein called HER2 (HER2-positive). All the participants' cancer had spread to nearby or distant parts of the body and had worsened after receiving at least 2 previous cancer treatments or treatment combinations. The researchers wanted to know whether a drug called trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) could improve participants' cancer more than standard chemotherapy drugs. Researchers in this study found that just over half (51%) of participants who received T-DXd had their cancer shrink significantly or disappear, compared to around 1 out of 7 participants (14%) who received standard chemotherapy. In addition, T-DXd reduced the risk of death by 41% compared to standard chemotherapy. Half of the participants who received T-DXd had died after 12.5months. Half of the participants who received standard chemotherapy had died after 8.4months. Just under half (44%) of participants who received T-DXd had serious medical problems during the study, also called serious adverse events, compared to about a quarter (24%) of participants who received standard chemotherapy. Of the participants who received T-DXd, 1 out of 10 (10%) got interstitial lung disease or pneumonitis that was potentially related to the study treatment. None of the participants who received standard chemotherapy got interstitial lung disease or pneumonitis. T-DXd could be a treatment option for people who have HER2-positive gastric cancer that has been previously treated without success.