Head and neck cancer that has advanced is often treated with other drug therapies that reach cancer cells throughout the body (systemic therapies). This may include targeted therapy and immunotherapy, which work in different ways to chemotherapy. They can be combined with other treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Targeted therapy
Targeted therapy targets specific features of cancer cells to stop the cancer growing and spreading. Each targeted therapy drug works on a particular feature, and the drug will only be given if the cancer cells have that feature. For some head and neck cancers, a targeted therapy drug called cetuximab is occasionally used when people cannot take the standard chemotherapy drug or the cancer is advanced.
For more on this, see our general section on Targeted therapy.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. The main type of immunotherapy drugs used in Australia are known as checkpoint inhibitors. These drugs help the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells. Nivolumab and pembrolizumab are some checkpoint inhibitors that may be used to treat some types of advanced head and neck cancer.
For more on this, see our general section on Immunotherapy.
New targeted therapy and immunotherapy drugs are being studied in clinical trials. Talk with your doctor about the latest developments and whether a clinical trial would be an option for you.
→ READ MORE: Palliative treatment for head and neck cancers
Video: What are drug therapies?
Watch this short video to learn more about targeted therapy and immunotherapy.
Podcast: Immunotherapy & Targeted Therapy
Listen to more episodes from our podcast for people affected by cancer
More resources
A/Prof Martin Batstone, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and Director of the Maxillofacial Unit, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, QLD; Polly Baldwin, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council SA; Martin Boyle, Consumer; Dr Teresa Brown, Assistant Director Dietetics, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Honorary Associate Professor, University of Queensland, QLD; Dr Hayley Dixon, Head, Clinical Support Dentistry Department, WSLHD Oral Health Services, Public Health Dentistry Specialist, NSW; Head and Neck Cancer Care Nursing Team, Royal Melbourne Hospital, VIC; Rhys Hughes, Senior Speech Pathologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Dr Annette Lim, Medical Oncologist and Clinician Researcher – Head and Neck and Non-melanoma Skin Cancer, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Dr Sweet Ping Ng, Radiation Oncologist, Austin Health, VIC; Deb Pickersgill, Senior Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Queensland Sports Medicine Centre, QLD; John Spurr, Consumer; Kate Woodhead, Physiotherapist, St Vincent’s Health, Melbourne, VIC; A/Prof Sue-Ching Yeoh, Oral Medicine Specialist, University of Sydney, Sydney Oral Medicine, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, NSW.
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