For the first time, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a drug for treating all cancers with certain genetic characteristics. Now, patients can try Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab), an immune oncology drug, if they have advanced cancer with pathological microsatellite instability of DNA mismatch repair defects.

This month, the FDA also announced it granted a priority review for Keytruda to treat recurrent or advanced gastric cancer. The FDA agreed to look at the data quickly and provide a decision sooner than the normal 12-month review cycle once all the data are submitted and accepted. Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in June, a study found Keytruda is a promising monotherapy for previously treated patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer, which shows the value of genetically sequencing patients' tumors. The FDA approval decision is expected this fall. Read more from Cure Today here.

In May, Jose Saenz, MD, PhD, was named our second Research Scholar with a grant of $90,000 annually for the next three years. This award is a collaboration of our Foundation and the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA).

We asked Dr. Saenz to shed light on his upcoming research at Washington University in St. Louis:

"Infection with the gastric bacterium, Helicobacter pylori is the greatest risk factor for developing gastric cancer. If we can begin to understand how Helicobacter pylori genetically adapts to different regions of the stomach, this may clue us to which bacterial genes are important for survival in these regions, and we can begin to target these genes therapeutically. Then we will be able to detect patients with an increased risk based on the bacterial profiles."

Read the full interview here.