MK-2206 Not Effective in Gastric, Gastroesophageal Junction Cancers

MK-2206, an AKT inhibitor, was well tolerated by patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancers as second-line therapy, but it did not demonstrate sufficient activity, a recent study published online early in the journalCancer has shown.

For the phase II study, researchers sought to evaluate the use of MK-2206 as second-line therapy in patients with gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancers. Researchers enrolled 70 patients and all patients received MK-2206 60mg orally every other day.

Results showed a response rate of 1%. Researchers found that the median progression-free survival was 1.8 months (95% CI: 1.7-1.8) and the median overall survival was 5.1 months (95% CI: 3.7-9.4).

In regard to safety, the most common grade 3 adverse event was fatigue and the most common grade 4 adverse events were anemia, hyperglycemia, and lung infection.

The most common all grade adverse events included fatigue, nausea, anorexia, hyperglycemia, macropapular rash, diarrhea, vomiting, dry skin, anemia, and aceniform rash.

Because the response rate was observed to be low, the authors conclude that MK-2206 should not be further tested in this population.

Reference

1. Ramanathan RK, McDonough SL, Kennecke HF, et al. Phase 2 study of MK-2206, an allosteric inhibitor of AKT, as second-line therapy for advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer: a SWOG cooperative group trial (S1005). Cancer. 2015. [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1002/cncr.29363.