Hundreds of thousands of people with advanced head and neck cancer could live longer without their cancer returning thanks to an immunotherapy drug, a clinical trial suggests.
This is the first sign of a breakthrough for patients with this difficult-to-treat cancer for 20 years, say scientists behind the research.
Laura Marston, 45, from Derbyshire, says she is “amazed she’s still here” after being given “dire” chances of survival following a diagnosis of advanced tongue cancer six years ago.
She received the immunotherapy before and after surgery, which researchers say helps the body learn to attack the cancer if it returns.
Cancers in the head and neck are notoriously difficult to treat and there’s been little change in the way patients are treated in two decades.
More than half those diagnosed with advanced head and neck cancers die within five years.
Laura was given only a 30% chance of surviving that long after her diagnosis in 2019, after having an ulcer on her tongue which wouldn’t go away.
As part of an international study into new ways to treat the cancer, involving experts from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, Laura was one of more than 350 patients given the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab before and after surgery to prime the body’s defences.
Six years on, Laura is working full-time and says she’s “in a good place and doing really well”.
“Just having this amazing immunotherapy has given me my life back again.”
The researchers say the key to their results was giving patients the drug before surgery, which trains the body to hunt down and kill the cancer if it ever comes back.
The approach worked “particularly well” for some patients, but it was “really exciting” to see the treatment benefitting all the patients in the trial.
