Doctors are highly praising “unprecedented” results from a shot for cancer that reportedly can eliminate whole tumors in some patients.
An injection called amivantamab shrank the tumors of over one-third of participants in a study spanning 11 countries, the Guardian reported on Saturday.
In the trial, 102 patients with head and neck cancer were given the injection. Of the participants, 43 saw a difference in the size of their tumors: some 28 saw their tumors shrink significantly, while 15 of the patients’ tumors dissolved altogether.
Notably, those who saw changes saw them in less than a week.
The shot was specifically offered to patients whose cancer was not responding to other treatments or whose cancer had returned.
New amivantamab shot could eradicate tumors in patients
The report also noted that those who received the injection lived for a median of a year after starting treatment, despite having a form of cancer with a notoriously difficult prognosis if standard treatments fail.
Amivantamab, which was developed by Johnson & Johnson, is now being evaluated in 60 medical trials for lung, colorectal, brain, and gastric cancer.
The injection targets cancer in three ways: Firstly, it blocks epidermal growth factor receptors, a protein that helps tumors grow. Secondly, the shot blocks MET, a pathway that cancerous cells use to evade treatments. Finally, the shot helps activate the immune system to attack a tumor.
Carl Walsh, 56, joined one of the initial trials in the summer of 2025 after he was diagnosed with tongue cancer. He told the Guardian that he was “very pleased” with the progress he has seen so far.
“I now feel able to live a normal life. Before starting the trial, I struggled to speak properly and found eating difficult because of the swelling and pain,” he said.
“Since beginning treatment, the swelling has reduced significantly, and my pain levels have improved considerably. I’m also no longer experiencing the same life-impacting side effects that I had during chemotherapy.”
“These are unprecedentedly strong responses in patients whose disease has become resistant to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy,” said Kevin Harrington, a professor in biological cancer therapies at London’s Institute of Cancer Research.
“This is a group of patients for whom treatment options are extremely limited, so seeing this level of benefit is very striking,” he added. Harrington also told The Guardian that the treatment could help thousands of patients a year.