Connecting Patients to Clinical Trials Drives Progress in Treating Gastric Cancer

More than 200 clinical trials of experimental gastric cancer treatments are underway and recruiting patients in the United States, according to ClinicalTrials.gov – offering significant opportunities for patients to help drive progress in treating the disease. Clinical trials are vital to expanding the gastric cancer toolbox: They are the only way drug developers can determine if experimental treatments are better than the existing standard of care, and they generate data necessary for regulatory approval. For patients, clinical trials can provide opportunities to get access to novel treatment approaches before they are approved for general use.

Gastric Cancer Foundation’s Clinical Trial Finder has been helping match patients with appropriate clinical trials since we launched the online tool in 2018. Under the management of Carebox Healthcare Solutions, the clinical trial finder makes it easy for patients to search online for clinical trials near their homes. Patients can also access free, one-on-one help from skilled navigators who can work with them on the phone to help find and enroll in clinical trials. The number of visits to the clinical trial navigator grew from 463 in 2022 to over 4,000 in the first 9 months of 2025.

In recent years, there have been several examples of the importance of clinical trials in gastric cancer development. They include AstraZeneca’s immunotherapy drug Imfinzi (durvalumab), which was granted breakthrough therapy designation and priority review by the FDA in July 2025, ensuring a quick path to a regulatory decision. The designations were based on results from a phase 3 clinical trial called Matterhorn, which enrolled 948 patients. During the trial, patients treated with Imfinzi plus chemotherapy before and after surgery saw a 22% reduced risk of death compared to those treated with chemo alone. An estimated 69% of patients on the regimen were alive at three years, vs. 62% of patients who took chemo alone.

Thanks to new technology, it’s becoming easier for patients to find and enroll in clinical trials. In 2024, the Gastric Cancer Foundation updated the Clinical Trial Finder with a new web offering from Carebox, which is using artificial intelligence convert unstructured text regarding eligibility criteria from ClinicalTrials.gov into a searchable index. This facilitates easy matching of patient characteristics with each clinical trial’s particular needs. Our improved web interface includes an embedded widget that allows patients to request a phone or email appointment with a live clinical trial navigator right from our website.

Clinical trials can be a viable option for patients at any stage of their gastric cancer journey. They don’t have to wait until the disease is advanced or all other options have been exhausted. In fact, many trials are designed to test treatments on patients who are newly diagnosed and just starting their path to recovery.

For more information on finding a clinical trial and working with a navigator, visit our clinical trials resource page >>