Gastric cancer is a cancer for which current chemotherapy treatment has not been very successful. Gastric cancers are cancers of the stomach. Like ovarian cancers, gastric cancers do not present any severe symptoms until, in most cases, it is well established. Slightly fewer than one million cases (989,000) of gastric cancer were identified in 2008, making it the fourth most common cancer in the world, behind lung, breast and colorectal cancers. The overall incidence of gastric cancer is predicted to rise in all the major markets over the next 10-20 years as the population ages.

While gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer, its high mortality rates make it the second leading global cause of death from cancer for both men and women, a testament to the lack of efficacious therapies available to treat this devastating disease.