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Principal investigator of SPOTLIGHT and DESTINY-Gastric01, two trials that created new drug classes for stomach cancer.
Kohei Shitara is Chief of the Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology at the National Cancer Center Hospital East in Japan. He was principal investigator of SPOTLIGHT, which tested the Claudin 18.2 antibody zolbetuximab with mFOLFOX6, and of DESTINY-Gastric01, which tested trastuzumab deruxtecan in previously treated HER2-positive gastric cancer, two trials that created new drug classes for stomach cancer. He also led KEYNOTE-062 and sits on the steering committees of most current gastric cancer phase 3 trials, including GLOW and DESTINY-Gastric04. His publications include the DESTINY-Gastric01 and SPOTLIGHT reports, and his interests span HER2, Claudin 18.2, immunotherapy and antibody-drug conjugates.
Patients with newly diagnosed advanced stomach cancer should now have Claudin 18.2 tested alongside HER2, PD-L1 and mismatch repair, because roughly a third will be eligible for zolbetuximab, which adds about three months of median survival. The main practical problem is nausea and vomiting during infusions, which needs aggressive prophylaxis. How to sequence or combine it with immunotherapy in PD-L1-positive tumours is unresolved.
Patients with newly diagnosed advanced stomach or oesophageal adenocarcinoma whose tumour is HER2-negative and PD-L1 positive (CPS 5 or more, or at least 1 in some regions) should receive chemotherapy with nivolumab (or pembrolizumab, from KEYNOTE-859), which adds about three months of median survival and doubles the chance of being alive at three years. The benefit in PD-L1-negative tumours is doubtful, and these patients may be better served by chemotherapy alone or by trials.
Shares ToGA, DESTINY-Gastric04, Trastuzumab deruxtecan, HER2.
Shares SPOTLIGHT & GLOW, SPOTLIGHT: zolbetuximab, the first Claudin 18.2 antibody, added to chemotherapy in gastric cancer, Zolbetuximab, Claudin 18.2.
Shares SPOTLIGHT & GLOW, Zolbetuximab, Claudin 18.2, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
Shares ToGA, SPOTLIGHT: zolbetuximab, the first Claudin 18.2 antibody, added to chemotherapy in gastric cancer, HER2, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
Shares National Cancer Center Hospital East, National Cancer Center Hospital, Trastuzumab deruxtecan, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
Shares SPOTLIGHT & GLOW, Zolbetuximab, Claudin 18.2, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.
Shares SPOTLIGHT & GLOW, Zolbetuximab, Claudin 18.2, HER2.
Shares Zolbetuximab, Claudin 18.2, HER2, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer.