An immunotherapy has proved better than aggressive chemotherapy in the treatment of recurrent head and neck cancer, a conference will hear today.
According to the findings of a UK-led trial, it would be a better first-line treatment than chemotherapy on its own.
The findings have been reported to the conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, USA.
Led by the Institute of Cancer Research, UK, the study recruited patients from 206 centres globally and compared the immunotherapy pembrolizumab as a treatment on its own and in combination with platinum with the use of two chemotherapies.
Researchers report that a third of patients treated with the immunotherapy combination were alive after three years compared with 8% of those receiving aggressive chemotherapy.
They say that immunotherapy on its own work well for some patients and ensured a big reduction in side-effects.
Researcher Professor Kevin Harrington said: “We had started to see strong indications of the promise of pembrolizumab as a first-line treatment while the trial was still ongoing, and I am delighted to see the preliminary results of the trial confirmed in the final analysis.
“Patients with advanced head and neck cancer are currently given a highly aggressive chemotherapy combination, so I’m hopeful that the results of our trial will soon be translated into pembrolizumab approval on the NHS so patients can start benefiting right at the start of treatment. We can imagine that many patients might be treated with pembrolizumab alone, allowing patients the twin benefits of prolonged survival and fewer side effects."
He added: "Where necessary some might need to receive a combination of pembrolizumab and chemotherapy and we now know that this can be highly beneficial.”
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