Dr. Davis on the Potential for Maintenance Therapy in Gastric Cancer

S. Lindsey Davis, MD, an assistant professor of medicine and gastrointestinal medical oncologist at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, discusses the potential for maintenance therapy in gastric cancer.

Aside from the many ongoing trials with immunotherapy, one study of interest is evaluating the use of a PARP inhibitor after patients have had a response to platinum-based chemotherapy in the frontline setting, says Davis. The randomized phase III, double-blind trial (NCT03427814) is examining pamiparib versus placebo as maintenance therapy and is enrolling patients with inoperable, locally advanced, or metastatic gastric cancer.

Maintenance therapy has proven to be effective in other gastrointestinal malignancies, such as colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, and this trial will give physicians a sense of whether the approach is worth pursuing in gastric cancer. Notably, patients are not required to have any kind of homologous recombination deficiency or DNA repair deficiency to enroll. However, these deficiencies will be evaluated in the analysis, concludes Davis.