Head and neck cancer survival rates ‘could be doubled by new drug’

A new immunotherapy treatment has shown potential to greatly improve survival rates among head and neck cancer sufferers.

Led by the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the new study of the drug nivolumab involved 20 research organisations from around the world.

For this trial, 240 individuals with relapsed or metastatic head and neck cancer were allocated to receive nivolumab, while 121 in a control group received one of three chemotherapies. UK patients received docetaxel, the only approved treatment for advanced head and neck cancer.

It was shown that more than double the number of patients taking nivolumab were alive after one year compared to those treated with chemotherapy, with median survival for patients on nivolumab measured at 7.5 months, compared with 5.1 months for chemotherapy.

Nivolumab is now the first treatment to show survival benefits in a phase III clinical trial for patients with head and neck cancer in whom chemotherapy had failed, doing so with fewer side effects than existing options.

Kevin Harrington, professor of biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research, said: "It's great news that these results indicate we now have a new treatment that can significantly extend life, and I'm keen to see it enter the clinic as soon as possible."

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