Cancer jab can eradicate entire tumours in patients, trial shows

Jab brought ‘unprecedentedly strong responses’ in patients whose disease had become resistant to chemotherapy and immunotherapy

Doctors have hailed “unprecedented” trial results that show a triple-action cancer jab can eradicate entire tumours in patients.

In an international trial spanning 11 countries, the injection was offered to patients whose cancer had spread or come back and whose disease had failed to respond to other treatments.

The jab, called amivantamab, shrank the tumours of more than a third of patients, with dramatic changes seen within weeks. In 15 of them, doctors found the drug had melted away their tumours altogether.

Kevin Harrington, professor in biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR), said: “These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

“This is a group of patients for whom treatment options are extremely limited, so seeing this level of benefit is very striking.”

Harrington, also a consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust, added: “This treatment has the potential to benefit many thousands of patients each year.”

The results will be presented on Sunday in Chicago at the world’s largest cancer conference, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco).

In the trial, 102 patients with head and neck cancer, the world’s sixth most common cancer, were given the jab. Tumours shrank or disappeared completely in 43 patients, including 28 whose tumours shrank significantly and 15 who saw them eradicated entirely.

Researchers said the injection had also shown similar results in patients with lung cancer. Amivantamab, developed by Johnson & Johnson, is now being evaluated in about 60 clinical trials, primarily for lung cancer, but also for colorectal, brain and gastric cancers.

The smart jab targets cancer in three ways. It blocks both EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor), a protein that helps tumours grow, and MET, a pathway that cancer cells often use to escape treatment. It also helps activate the immune system to attack the tumour.

One of the first patients to benefit was Carl Walsh, 56, who was diagnosed with tongue cancer in May 2024 and joined the OrigAMI-4 trial at the Royal Marsden in July 2025.

“I was initially treated with both chemotherapy and immunotherapy, which unfortunately were not successful,” he said. “At that point, I was recommended for the OrigAMI-4 trial. I’m now on my 17th cycle of treatment and I’m very pleased with the progress so far.”