CLASSIC: adjuvant capecitabine and oxaliplatin for gastric cancer after D2 gastrectomy

Open-label phase 3 trial at 37 centres in South Korea, China and Taiwan: 1,035 patients with stage II to IIIB gastric cancer after curative D2 gastrectomy were randomised to eight cycles of capecitabine and oxaliplatin (520) or observation (515).

Three-year disease-free survival was 74 percent with chemotherapy against 59 percent with surgery alone (hazard ratio 0.56). Grade 3 or 4 adverse events occurred in 56 percent of chemotherapy patients against 6 percent of surgery-only patients, most commonly nausea, neutropenia and decreased appetite.