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Doctors have hailed “incredibly encouraging” trial results that show a triple-action smart jab can shrink tumours in head and neck cancer patients within six weeks.

Head and neck cancer is the world’s sixth most common form of the disease. If it spreads or comes back after standard treatment, patients may be offered immunotherapy and platinum chemotherapy. But if this fails, there is often little else doctors can do.

Research showed a drug called amivantamab, given as an injection, can shrink tumours in patients with recurrent or metastatic cancer who had tried immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Details were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Berlin.

Prof Kevin Harrington, a professor of biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, and consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust, said: “To see this level of benefit for patients who have endured numerous treatments is incredibly encouraging.

“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.”

He added: “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.

“Unlike many cancer treatments that require hours in a hospital chair, amivantamab is given as a simple injection under the skin. This makes it faster, more convenient, and potentially easier to deliver in outpatient clinics – or even at home in the future.”

The Orig-AMI 4 trial, funded by the pharmaceuticals company Janssen, involved patients from 11 countries, including the UK. Each had recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) – a hard-to-treat form that often returns after standard therapies.

One group of 86 patients in the study, who had received immunotherapy and chemotherapy, were given amivantamab. Early results show 76% of this group saw their tumours shrink or stop growing.

Responses were seen within six weeks on average and treatment was generally well tolerated. Most side-effects were mild to moderate. Average progression-free survival of patients receiving amivantamab on its own was 6.8 months.

Amivantamab is a drug that targets cancer in three ways. It blocks both EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), a protein that helps tumours grow, and MET, a pathway that cancer cells often use to escape treatment. It also helps activate the immune system to attack the tumour.

Carl Walsh has tongue cancer and joined the trial in July after chemotherapy and immunotherapy failed. “I’m now on my seventh cycle of treatment. It’s working well so far and I’m very happy with the progress,” the 59-year-old from Birmingham said.

“Before starting the trial, I couldn’t talk properly and eating was difficult but the swelling has gone down a lot, and I’m not in the same amount of pain I used to be in. Sometimes I even forget that I have cancer.”