Evorpacept plus trastuzumab, ramucirumab and paclitaxel in HER2-positive gastric cancer: a randomized phase 2 trial.

Evorpacept combined with trastuzumab, ramucirumab, and paclitaxel achieved an ORR of up to 54.8% in HER2-positive gastric cancer but did not meet the predefined statistical threshold.

• Why it matters: Improving treatment outcomes for HER2-positive gastric cancer remains a challenge, and new therapies are needed to enhance response rates beyond current benchmarks.
• What they did: The study randomized 127 patients to receive evorpacept plus standard therapy or standard therapy alone, assessing objective response rate, duration of response, progression-free survival, and safety, with additional biomarker analyses.
• The result: While the combination showed promising efficacy, with ORRs exceeding historical benchmarks, it did not reach the strict statistical significance, supporting further investigation into its potential benefits and biomarker correlations.