A promising new cancer treatment delivered through a simple injection under the skin has produced striking results in patients with difficult-to-treat head and neck cancer, with researchers reporting significant tumour shrinkage and, in some cases, complete tumour disappearance.
Scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research presented the findings from the OrigAMI-4 clinical trial at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, one of the world’s leading gatherings for cancer research.
The treatment, known as amivantamab, was tested in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer whose disease had stopped responding to standard treatments such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
According to researchers, tumours shrank in 43 of the 102 patients who received the injection. In 15 patients, tumours disappeared completely.
Experts say the results are especially encouraging because the trial involved patients with limited treatment options and cancers that are often resistant to existing therapies.
Dr. Glenn J. Hanna, Director of the Centre for Cancer Therapeutic Innovation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said new drugs like amivantamab are showing strong promise for HPV-negative head and neck cancers.
He said such treatments could help improve response durability, survival, and overall outcomes for patients facing recurrent or metastatic disease.
Amivantamab is a targeted cancer therapy designed to block signals that help cancer cells grow and spread. It is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and is already used to treat certain forms of lung cancer.
Unlike many cancer therapies that require lengthy intravenous infusions, amivantamab is administered as a small injection under the skin once every three weeks. Researchers say this makes treatment faster, easier, and more convenient for patients.
Most side effects reported during the trial were mild to moderate, and fewer than one in 10 patients stopped treatment due to side effects.
Patients in the trial lived for a median of about one year after beginning treatment, despite having a form of cancer known for poor outcomes. Researchers also reported that tumours began responding within approximately six weeks, while patients experienced a median of just over six months before the cancer started growing again.
Professor Kevin Harrington of the Institute of Cancer Research described the results as unusually strong for patients whose disease had become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
“These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy,” Harrington said.
One trial participant, 56-year-old Carl Walsh of Birmingham, U.K., said the treatment helped reduce pain and swelling and allowed him to avoid some of the severe side effects he had experienced during chemotherapy.
Walsh, who is living with tongue cancer, said chemotherapy and immunotherapy had not worked for him before he was recommended for the OrigAMI-4 trial.
“I’m now on my seventeenth cycle of treatment and I’m very pleased with the progress so far,” he said. “I now feel able to live a normal life.”
The study excluded patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, meaning it focused on cancers that are generally harder to treat and typically respond less well to standard therapy.
The trial included patients from 11 countries who were treated at 55 hospitals.
Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and includes cancers affecting the mouth, tongue, throat, and related areas.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, an estimated 8,200 people in Canada are expected to be diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2026, with most cases occurring in men. Approximately 2,300 Canadians are expected to die from the disease this year.
While researchers caution that more study is needed before the treatment becomes widely available for this type of cancer, the early results are being viewed as a major step forward for patients who currently have few effective options after standard treatments fail.
The findings offer renewed hope that targeted injectable therapies may play an increasingly important role in future cancer care, giving patients more convenient treatments and potentially better outcomes.