Cancer Jab Erases Tumors in 15 Patients with No Options

For people whose cancer has returned and stopped responding to every available treatment, a new injection is delivering results doctors are calling unprecedented.

The cancer jab, called amivantamab, completely eradicated tumors in 15 patients with advanced head and neck cancers during a trial at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. In more than a third of the 102 patients tested, the injection shrank their tumors significantly.

What makes these results remarkable is who received the treatment. Every patient in the trial had already tried chemotherapy and immunotherapy without success. For this group, treatment options are typically exhausted, with a prognosis of just three to six months.

Carl Walsh knows this reality firsthand. The 56-year-old from Birmingham joined the trial in July 2025 after being diagnosed with tongue cancer that stopped responding to standard treatments. Before starting the injections, he struggled to speak properly and could only manage soft foods like soup and omelettes.

Now on his 17th cycle of treatment, Walsh says he's living a normal life again. The swelling in his mouth has reduced significantly, his pain has improved, and he recently enjoyed his first steak in months. His speech has completely returned to normal, and he speaks regularly on headsets at work without problems.

The Ripple Effect

The injection works through a three-pronged approach. It activates the immune system to attack tumors while simultaneously blocking two proteins that help cancer cells grow and evade treatment. Patients receive the jab as a five-minute injection every three weeks, replacing more time-consuming intravenous drips, with few reported side effects.

The treatment's potential extends far beyond head and neck cancers. Johnson & Johnson is evaluating amivantamab in around 60 clinical trials worldwide, focusing on lung cancer but also testing it for colorectal, brain, and gastric cancers. The NHS already approved it last year for certain lung cancer patients with a specific genetic mutation.

Professor Kevin Harrington from the Institute of Cancer Research calls the results "unprecedentedly strong responses" in patients whose disease had become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy. He believes the treatment could benefit many thousands of patients each year.

Patients receiving amivantamab in the trial lived for a median of 12.5 months after starting treatment, more than double the typical three to six month prognosis for this severe stage of cancer. The results were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting, the world's largest cancer conference.

Head and neck cancer is the eighth most common cancer in the UK and affects 12,800 people each year, including cancers of the mouth, tongue, throat, voice box, and nose.

For patients like Walsh who once faced limited time and diminishing options, this injection represents something powerful: a chance to keep fighting, keep living, and keep enjoying the meals and conversations that make life worth celebrating.