A new injectable cancer treatment has shown remarkable results in patients with advanced head and neck cancer, with some participants experiencing complete tumour disappearance during a recent international clinical trial.
Researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research presented findings from the OrigAMI-4 trial at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, revealing that the drug amivantamab significantly reduced tumours in patients whose cancers had stopped responding to standard therapies.
The study found that amivantamab shrank tumours in 43 of 102 patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer. Among those patients, 15 experienced complete tumour disappearance.
Experts say the results are particularly encouraging for patients with HPV-negative head and neck cancers, which are typically more difficult to treat and often respond poorly to conventional therapies.
Dr. Glenn J. Hanna, director of the Centre for Cancer Therapeutic Innovation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said emerging treatments such as amivantamab could help improve survival and long-term outcomes for patients facing recurrent metastatic disease.
Developed by Johnson & Johnson, amivantamab is a targeted therapy that blocks multiple signals used by cancer cells to grow and spread. The drug is already approved for certain forms of lung cancer.
Unlike many cancer treatments administered through intravenous infusions, amivantamab is delivered through a simple injection under the skin every three weeks, making treatment faster and more convenient for patients.
Researchers reported that most side effects were mild to moderate, and fewer than 10 per cent of participants discontinued treatment because of adverse reactions.
Patients receiving the therapy survived a median of one year after beginning treatment, despite having a cancer type associated with poor prognoses. Tumours generally began responding within six weeks, while patients experienced a median of just over six months before disease progression resumed.
Professor Kevin Harrington described the findings as unprecedented for patients whose cancers had become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
One participant, 56-year-old Carl Walsh of Birmingham, England, said the treatment dramatically reduced pain and swelling associated with his tongue cancer after previous chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments failed.
The international study involved patients from 11 countries and was conducted across 55 hospitals.
Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, approximately 8,200 Canadians are expected to be diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2026.
