Ken Kato

Ken Kato, MD, PhD is Chief of the Department of Head and Neck, Esophageal Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Center Hospital in Tokyo, and the world's leading clinical investigator in immunotherapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). His work has fundamentally reshaped first-line treatment for advanced ESCC globally. Kato was the global principal investigator of the CheckMate 648 phase III trial (published in New England Journal of Medicine, 2022), demonstrating that nivolumab plus chemotherapy—and nivolumab plus ipilimumab—significantly improved overall survival compared to chemotherapy alone as first-line treatment for unresectable advanced, recurrent, or metastatic ESCC, with the survival benefit particularly pronounced in patients with high tumor PD-L1 expression. This trial led to FDA and global approvals for nivolumab-based combinations in advanced ESCC and established immune checkpoint inhibition as a cornerstone of first-line therapy. Prior to CheckMate 648, Kato led the ATTRACTION-3 phase III trial demonstrating overall survival benefit of nivolumab monotherapy versus chemotherapy in previously treated ESCC—the first phase III immunotherapy trial to show a survival benefit in this setting. He has also been involved in KEYNOTE-590 (pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy), ESCORT-1st (camrelizumab), and numerous other pivotal trials that have collectively moved immunotherapy into first-line ESCC. His deep knowledge of ESCC biology, PD-L1 combined positive scoring, and translational correlates of immunotherapy response makes him the global authority on this rapidly evolving field.