Merck completes patient enrollment for gastric cancer drug trial

The trial will evaluate the efficacy of Erbitux in combination with cisplatin and capecitabine chemotherapies as a first line treatment for patients with advanced/metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma, including gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma.

The multi-centre, open label, randomised, controlled study is being conducted at 185 centres across 25 countries including Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Japan, and has enrolled more than 870 patients.

Merck said that the primary endpoint of the study will be progression-free survival.

Erbitux is an active IgG1 monoclonal antibody, which targets the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).