Cancers of the head and neck of drugs "game changer"

Elderly man with a neck tumourImage copyrightSpl
A new type of cancer drugs, which wakes the patient's own immune system to fight tumors can be a game changer for solutions aggressive types of head and neck cancer, experts say.

The test results out of the US cancer conference suggests that the treatment works better than standard chemotherapy.

Nivolumab significantly improved the chances of survival of patients with these hard-to-treat tumors.

It is now available on the NHS for people with advanced skin cancer.

But experts say that more research is needed before offering it is usually in patients with other cancers.

New Hope

Immunotherapy is considered as one of the most exciting developments in cancer treatments in recent years.

While it may not cure cancer each mounting evidence suggests that you can buy some very sick precious time.

Phase three trial nivolumab, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research, suggests the drug may prolong survival time in months, even when the cancer is advanced and aggressive.

In a study of 240 patients with head and neck cancer were given nivolumab, and another 121 received standard chemotherapy.

A year later, 36% of patients receiving injections nivolumab were still alive, compared with 17% of those on chemo.

The leader of the test British Professor Kevin Harrington of the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said the results were "a potential game changer" for head and neck cancer, "the introduction of a new drug treatment in our arsenal that is finally better than standard chemotherapy. "

"After she relapsed or spread, head and neck cancer is extremely difficult to treat with surgery and radiation therapy is often not possible," he said.

"So it's very good news for patients, these interim results indicate that we now have a new treatment that works and can significantly prolong life."

About 10 000 patients a year in the UK are diagnosed with head and neck cancer - cancer of the mouth, lips, throat, nose, throat, sinuses and salivary glands.

Dr. Emma King, of Cancer Research UK, said: "These results could have a significant impact on patients with head and neck cancer who no longer respond to treatment.

"They also reinforce the important shift that we have seen in the direction of using immunotherapy to treat cancer.

"Before Nivolumab can be used regularly to treat head and neck cancer in the UK, it must be approved by NICE [National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence]."