Amivantamab injection eradicates tumors in late‑stage head‑neck cancer

Johnson & Johnson’s triple‑action cancer injection amivantamab, which blocks EGFR and MET pathways and activates the immune system, was tested in an international trial of 102 patients with advanced head‑and‑neck cancers. The study, presented at the ASCO conference in Chicago, showed tumor shrinkage in 43 participants and complete disappearance in 15 cases. Median survival after treatment began was 12.5 months, and most side effects were mild to moderate, with fewer than one in ten patients needing to stop therapy. The subcutaneous injection is administered every three weeks, simplifying treatment compared with traditional infusions. Ongoing research includes about 60 trials exploring amivantamab for lung, colorectal, brain and stomach cancers.

Professor Kevin Harrington of the Institute of Cancer Research highlighted the results, saying, “These unprecedentedly strong responses… could help thousands of patients each year.”