Doctors have hailed “incredibly encouraging” trial results showing that a triple-action smart injection can shrink tumours in head and neck cancer patients within six weeks. The drug, amivantamab, is given as a simple injection under the skin and targets recurrent or metastatic cancers that have failed to respond to standard treatments.
Head and neck cancer is the world’s sixth most common form of the disease. When it spreads or returns after standard therapy, patients may be offered immunotherapy and platinum chemotherapy. If these fail, there are often few remaining options. The Orig-AMI 4 trial, funded by Janssen, involved patients from 11 countries including the UK.
In the study, 86 patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who had already received immunotherapy and chemotherapy were given amivantamab. Early results show that 76% of this group saw their tumours shrink or stop growing. Responses were seen within six weeks on average, and the treatment was generally well tolerated, with most side-effects mild to moderate. Average progression-free survival was 6.8 months.
Professor Kevin Harrington, a professor of biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust, said: “To see this level of benefit for patients who have endured numerous treatments is incredibly encouraging. This could represent a real shift in how we treat head and neck cancer – not just in terms of effectiveness, but also in how we deliver care.” He added that unlike many cancer treatments requiring hours in hospital, amivantamab is a simple injection that could potentially be given in outpatient clinics or even at home.
Amivantamab works in three ways: it blocks EGFR and MET pathways that help tumours grow and escape treatment, and it also activates the immune system to attack the cancer. Carl Walsh, a 59-year-old from Birmingham with tongue cancer, joined the trial after chemotherapy and immunotherapy failed. He said: “I’m now on my seventh cycle of treatment. It’s working well so far and I’m very happy with the progress. Before starting the trial, I couldn’t talk properly and eating was difficult but the swelling has gone down a lot, and I’m not in the same amount of pain I used to be in. Sometimes I even forget that I have cancer.”
