- Head or neck cancer notoriously difficult to treat if it spreads or relapses
- Those who do not respond to chemo have 6-month life expectancy
- New drug – Nivolumab – helped a third of patients live for a year in a trial
Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com
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A breakthrough immunotherapy drug has been proved to double survival rates for head and neck cancer.
Nivolumab, developed by the Institute of Cancer Research, is the first treatment to extend survival in a phase III clinical trial for patients who did not respond to chemotherapy.
And there were far fewer side effects than most aggressive tumor-fighting medications.
It has been hailed as a game-changer for the notoriously difficult-to-treat disease strains.
Nivolumab, developed by the Institute of Cancer Research, is the first treatment to extend survival in a phase III clinical trial for patients who did not respond to chemotherapy
WHY IS HEAD AND NECK CANCER HARD TO TREAT?
Head and neck cancer are the sixth most common strains of the disease globally.
It covers cancers that inhabit the throat, nose, mouth, and salivary glands.
HPV, the sexually-transmitted infection, and smoking have been associated with these cancers.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
- Pain in the ear
- Soar throat
- Lump in the throat that doesn’t heal
- Mouth ulcer
- Enlarged lymph nodes
WHY IS IT HARD TO TREAT?
The chemotherapy drug most commonly used to treat head and neck cancer has fierce toxic side effects.
It is also not uncommon for patients to be resistant to this form of chemotherapy.
And surgery to remove the tumor can be difficult, or could even lead to life-long physical damage that makes it difficult to talk or breathe.
The disease is notoriously difficult to treat if it comes back or spreads, since it tends to be more aggressive.
WHAT IS THE NEW IMMUNOTHERAPY DRUG?
The drug Nivolumab is a kind of immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy trains patients’ bodies to fight their tumors.
It is the most promising approach to fighting cancer to date, according to the expert panel of cancer researchers that Vice President Joe Biden assembled to fight cancer.
The drug was tested on a group of patients with cisplatin-resistant relapsed or metastatic head and neck cancers.
Normally, since chemotherapy does not work for this group, they would have a life expectancy of less than six months.
However, a trial conducted by The Institute of Cancer Research in London, England, found the number of patients living up to one year dramatically increased.
Of the 361 patients in the trial, 240 with relapsed or metastatic head and neck cancer were allocated to receive nivolumab and 121 to one of three different chemotherapies.
The British patients received the chemotherapy drug docetaxel, which is the only treatment approved for advanced head and neck cancer by NICE.
More than a third (36 per cent) of patients treated with nivolumab were still alive after a year – compared with 17 per cent who were treated with chemotherapy.
On average, patients on nivolumab lived 7.5 months, compared with 5.1 months for chemotherapy.
The Phase III study, the last stage in the testing process before a new treatment is licensed, provided the first evidence of a drug improving survival in this group of patients.
Professor Kevin Harrington, from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, who led the British arm of the international trial, said: ‘Nivolumab could be a real game changer for patients with advanced head and neck cancer.
‘This trial found that it can greatly extend life among a group of patients who have no existing treatment options, without worsening quality of life.
‘Once it has relapsed or spread, head and neck cancer is extremely difficult to treat.
‘So 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.’
Before it can be offered on the NHS, the treatment will have to be approved by the European Medicines Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which vets new therapies in England and Wales for cost effectiveness.
It could be a long time before it reaches the US for FDA approval.
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Professor Paul Workman, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: ‘Nivolumab is one of a new wave of immunotherapies that are beginning to have an impact across cancer treatment.
‘This phase III clinical trial expands the repertoire of nivolumab even further, showing that it is the first treatment to have significant benefits in relapsed head and neck cancer.
‘We hope regulators can work with the manufacturer to avoid delays in getting this drug to patients who have no effective treatment options left to them.’
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