A new “smart” injection has shown remarkable results in shrinking head and neck cancer tumours within six weeks, offering fresh hope for patients with few remaining treatment options.
The drug, amivantamab, demonstrated strong early results in patients whose cancers had returned or spread after both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Findings from the Orig-AMI 4 trial, presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Berlin, revealed that 76% of participants saw their tumours shrink or stop growing.
“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,” said Prof Kevin Harrington of the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
Unlike conventional cancer drugs that require hours of intravenous infusion, amivantamab is given as a simple injection under the skin. The approach could make treatment faster, more comfortable, and easier to administer in outpatient clinics — or potentially at home in the future.
Amivantamab is a triple-action therapy, blocking two key tumour growth pathways — EGFR and MET — while also activating the immune system to attack cancer cells. Patients on the trial experienced an average progression-free survival of 6.8 months, with most side effects mild to moderate.
Among the participants was Carl Walsh, 59, from Birmingham, who joined the trial after standard treatments failed. “Before starting, 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 pain. Sometimes I even forget that I have cancer.”
Doctors say the results are “incredibly encouraging” and could pave the way for a more effective, convenient new treatment for recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancers.
