What is Gastric Cancer?
Gastric cancer is the 5th most common cancer with over one million patients diagnosed globally each year (View Cancer Fact Sheet from the World Health Organization). While the survival rate has improved over the past decades, many patients with develop disease recurrence after initial treatment. CYRAMZA (Ramucirumab), an antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), is approved for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer in combination with paclitaxel.
PDGFR & Resistance to VEGF Pathway
One of the mechanisms of resistance to anti-VEGF therapies is believed to be caused by increased signaling in the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)/PDGF receptor (PDGFR) pathway. The addition of a PDGFR inhibitor to the treatment regimen may prevent the acquisition of resistance to anti-VEGF therapy.
The combination of crenolanib and axitinib, a small molecule inhibitor of VEGFR, along with docetaxel chemotherapy demonstrated promising results in a phase Ib study in patients with a variety of advanced solid tumors (Michael et al., British Journal of Cancer 2010).
