I now feel able to live a normal life.
Among the cancers that resist every standard weapon medicine offers, head and neck tumours have long represented a particular kind of despair — a narrowing corridor with no visible door. A clinical trial conducted across 55 hospitals in 11 countries has now reported that a bispecific antibody called amivantamab shrank tumours in 42% of patients who had exhausted chemotherapy and immunotherapy, eliminating disease entirely in 15 cases. The finding, emerging from London's Institute of Cancer Research, suggests that simultaneously blocking two cancer growth pathways while reawakening the immune system may offer something this patient population has rarely been given: a meaningful extension of life, and with it, the possibility of living rather than merely surviving.
- For patients whose head and neck cancers had defeated both chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the medical horizon had effectively closed — amivantamab arrived as a last resort for 102 such patients enrolled across 11 countries.
- The drug's dual mechanism — blocking the EGFR and MET growth pathways simultaneously while activating immune response — represents a fundamentally different attack on tumours that had learned to evade conventional treatment.
- Tumours shrank in 43 patients, vanished entirely in 15, and the median survival reached 12.5 months, a striking figure for a cancer type that typically offers very little once standard therapies fail.
- A 56-year-old Birmingham man whose tongue cancer had resisted all prior treatment described, after 17 cycles, a return to normal life — reduced pain, diminished swelling, and the lifting of chemotherapy's crushing burden.
- Already approved for lung cancer and developed by Johnson & Johnson, amivantamab now awaits regulatory consideration for head and neck cancer, a decision that could open treatment to thousands of patients annually.
Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, striking around 12,800 people in Britain each year. For those whose tumours stop responding to chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the options narrow to almost nothing — until, perhaps, now.
Doctors at the Institute of Cancer Research in London have reported what they describe as unprecedentedly strong responses to amivantamab, a bispecific monoclonal antibody, in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer resistant to conventional treatment. The OrigAMI-4 trial enrolled 102 patients across 55 hospitals in 11 countries — all of them having already exhausted the standard arsenal.
What makes amivantamab unusual is its dual action: it blocks two separate pathways cancer cells use to survive — EGFR and MET — while simultaneously prompting the immune system to attack the tumour. It is administered as an injection every three weeks, a practical advantage over lengthy intravenous infusions.
Tumours shrank in 43 of the 102 patients. Fifteen saw their cancers disappear entirely. Patients lived a median of 12.5 months after starting treatment, with disease control maintained for a median of over six months before cancer resumed growth. Side effects were mild to moderate, and fewer than ten patients discontinued treatment because of adverse reactions.
Carl Walsh, 56, from Birmingham, diagnosed with tongue cancer in May 2024, had seen both chemotherapy and immunotherapy fail before joining the trial in July 2025. By his 17th treatment cycle, the swelling in his throat had diminished, pain that had made eating and speaking difficult had eased, and the debilitating effects of prior treatment had receded. 'I now feel able to live a normal life,' he said — words that carry particular weight for someone whose disease had reduced existence to survival.
Professor Kevin Harrington of the institute called the responses striking for a group with extremely limited options, and suggested the drug could eventually help thousands annually. Amivantamab, developed by Johnson & Johnson and already approved for several lung cancer subtypes, now awaits regulatory consideration for head and neck cancer — a decision that could open a door for patients who had run out of them.
Head and neck cancer kills quietly. It's the sixth most common cancer worldwide, striking roughly 12,800 people in Britain each year. For those whose tumours stop responding to standard chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the options narrow to almost nothing. The prognosis darkens. Until now, perhaps.
Doctors at the Institute of Cancer Research in London have reported what they're calling "unprecedentedly strong responses" to a new drug called amivantamab in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer that had become resistant to conventional treatment. The results come from the OrigAMI-4 trial, which enrolled 102 patients across 55 hospitals in 11 countries. All of them had exhausted the standard arsenal—chemotherapy, immunotherapy—and their cancers kept growing anyway.
Amivantamab is a bispecific monoclonal antibody, which means it does something conventional drugs cannot: it simultaneously blocks two separate pathways that cancer cells use to survive and spread. The first target is EGFR, a protein that fuels tumour growth. The second is MET, a separate escape route that cancer cells exploit when they've developed resistance. But the drug does something else too. It wakes up the immune system, prompting it to attack the tumour directly. Given as an injection every three weeks—not an intravenous drip that tethers patients to a clinic chair for hours—it offers a practical advantage alongside its biological one.
The numbers tell the story. Tumours shrank in 43 of the 102 patients. Fifteen saw their cancers disappear entirely. Twenty-eight experienced significant shrinkage. Patients on amivantamab lived a median of 12.5 months after starting treatment, a meaningful span for a cancer type that typically offers very poor outcomes once standard therapies fail. The drug began working within about six weeks. Before the cancer resumed growth, patients gained a median of just over six-and-a-half months of disease control.
Carl Walsh, 56, from Birmingham, carries the human weight of these statistics. Diagnosed with tongue cancer in May 2024, he endured chemotherapy and immunotherapy at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Both failed. He joined the trial in July 2025 as a last resort. By his 17th treatment cycle, the swelling in his throat had diminished markedly. Pain that had made eating and speaking difficult began to ease. The crushing side effects of chemotherapy—the ones that had reshaped his daily life—receded. "I now feel able to live a normal life," he said in a statement released by the institute. For someone whose disease had narrowed his world to survival, that sentence carries weight.
Professor Kevin Harrington, a biological cancer therapies specialist at the institute and consultant oncologist at The Royal Marsden, framed the finding in clinical terms: "These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This is a group of patients for whom treatment options are extremely limited, so seeing this level of benefit is very striking." He suggested the drug could eventually help thousands of patients annually. Side effects were mild to moderate. Fewer than ten patients stopped treatment because of adverse reactions.
Amivantamab is being developed by Johnson & Johnson and has already won approval for multiple subtypes of lung cancer. Head and neck cancers that lack HPV involvement—the kind that typically resist standard therapy—represent a particularly difficult challenge. This trial suggests amivantamab may crack that problem. The next step is regulatory approval. If it comes, thousands of patients facing a narrowing corridor of options may find a door opening.
Notable Quotes
These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This is a group of patients for whom treatment options are extremely limited.— Professor Kevin Harrington, Institute of Cancer Research
Before starting the trial, I struggled to speak properly and found eating difficult because of the swelling and pain. Since beginning treatment, the swelling has reduced significantly, and my pain levels have improved considerably.— Carl Walsh, trial participant
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that this is an injection rather than an IV drip?
Because it changes the entire texture of living with cancer. An IV drip means hours in a clinic chair, a needle in your arm, the ritual of treatment dominating your week. An injection you can receive in an outpatient setting and leave. For someone already exhausted by illness, that's the difference between treatment controlling your life and you controlling your treatment.
The trial mentions 15 complete responses out of 102 patients. That's roughly 15 percent. Why is that being called a breakthrough?
Because these are patients whose cancers have already rejected two major categories of treatment. In that population, a 15 percent complete response rate is extraordinary. You're not comparing this to healthy people. You're comparing it to people with almost no options left. For them, the baseline expectation is decline.
What does "bispecific" actually do that makes it different?
Most cancer drugs hit one target. This one hits two simultaneously—EGFR and MET—which are two different ways cancer cells survive and escape treatment. It's like blocking two exits instead of one. And then it does a third thing: it tells the immune system to wake up and fight. That's the elegance of it.
Carl Walsh's case—is that typical of what happened in the trial?
His case is on the better end of the spectrum. He got a complete response, or close to it. But even patients who didn't see their tumours disappear reported meaningful relief from pain and swelling, and fewer of the devastating side effects that chemotherapy brings. That matters enormously to people living with advanced cancer.
What happens next?
The drug needs regulatory approval. It's already approved for lung cancer, so the pathway exists. If it gets approved for head and neck cancer, it becomes available to the thousands of patients each year who find themselves in the position Carl Walsh was in—out of standard options, facing a very narrow road ahead.