For patients with returning head and neck cancers, there are few if any potential options other than further chemotherapy sessions.

But now, doctors and oncologists are hopeful that that is a reality soon to enter the past tense after initial success seen in a large clinical trial studying a drug to target this form of cancer called amivantamab.

The triple-action injection-based therapy targets metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a hard-to-treat form of head and neck cancer, considered the 6th-most common form of the disease.

For those who are diagnosed with HNSCC, the first line of treatment is the more forgiving immunotherapy, which can sometimes see success. But if the cancer returns, as it often does, oncologists will generally resort to chemotherapy and hope.

But with amivantamab, they have an “incredibly encouraging” new option that was shown in a trial conducted across 11 different countries to shrink tumors as soon as 6 weeks from the start of treatment, while slowing and sometimes halting altogether the disease’s progression.

The findings were presented recently at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Berlin.

CANCER TREATMENTS AT LARGE: CAR-T Cell Therapy Achieves Near-Complete Tumor Regression in Brain Cancer After Five Days

“To see this level of benefit for patients who have endured numerous treatments is incredibly encouraging,” Kevin Harrington, a professor of biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, told the Guardian. “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.”

“This is the first time we’ve tested this kind of triple-action therapy for head and neck cancer patients whose disease has returned after treatment. Amivantamab is a smart drug that not only blocks two key cancer pathways but also helps the immune system do its job,” he added.

MORE HEAD AND NECK TREATMENTS: Immunotherapy Drugs So Effective that Tumors Disappear in Weeks for Head and Neck Cancer Patients in Landmark Trial

One group in particular that consisted of 86 patients who had previously received immunotherapy or chemotherapy received amivantamab and recorded a halting or reversing of tumor growth in three-fourths of the patients within just 6 weeks.

A key strength in the drug is that it attacks cancer cells in three major ways. It inhabits the production of a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor, which helps tumors grow, and MET, a pathway that helps cancer cells evade detection. In addition to these, it helps coordinate the immune system’s response to the tumors.

SHARE This Encouraging Drug Development With Your Friends On Social Media…