A new “smart” injection therapy has shown remarkable success in shrinking head and neck cancer tumours within six weeks, offering fresh hope to patients with advanced or recurrent disease.
The drug, amivantamab, demonstrated strong early results in a clinical trial presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Berlin. The treatment was found to shrink or stop tumour growth in 76% of patients whose cancers had returned after chemotherapy and immunotherapy — a group that typically has few remaining options.
Head and neck cancer is the world’s sixth most common cancer, and recurrent or metastatic cases are notoriously difficult to treat.
Professor Kevin Harrington, from the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, described the findings as “incredibly encouraging.”
“This could represent a real shift in how we treat head and neck cancer — not just in terms of effectiveness, but also how we deliver care,” he said.
Amivantamab is a triple-action therapy that works by blocking two key tumour growth pathways — EGFR and MET — while also boosting the immune system’s ability to attack cancer cells. Unlike traditional intravenous treatments, it is administered as a simple injection under the skin, potentially allowing for faster, more convenient treatment in outpatient settings or even at home.
The Orig-AMI 4 trial, funded by Janssen, involved patients from 11 countries, including the UK. Among 86 participants who had already received immunotherapy and chemotherapy, the average progression-free survival was 6.8 months, and side effects were generally mild to moderate.
One patient, Carl Walsh, 59, from Birmingham, said the treatment has significantly improved his quality of life after other therapies failed.
“Before starting the trial, I couldn’t talk properly and eating was difficult,” he said. “The swelling has gone down a lot, and I’m not in the same amount of pain. Sometimes I even forget that I have cancer.”
Researchers say the results could mark a major breakthrough in treating recurrent head and neck cancers, with larger trials now expected to confirm the findings.
