‘Incredibly Encouraging’ Drug Trial Shrinks Tumors in Head and Neck Cancer Patients Within Six Weeks

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.