The patient will receive neoadjuvant therapy (APG-157) during the period between initial diagnosis and time of definitive treatment. APG-157 is an orally administered drug in a form of pastille (soft lozenge) taken three times a day. It dissolves in the mouth. After the neoadjuvant treatment, the patient undergoes surgery or any other definitive therapy and/or postoperative radiotherapy as determined by the patient's doctor. Duration of treatment is four weeks that may be extended up to six weeks by mutual consent of the patients and the investigators.~Objectives:~To conduct Phase 2A to determine how tumor size, tumor tissue biomarkers, and the cancer stem cell markers, in head and neck squamous cell cancer patients are affected by the administration APG-157 pastilles using imaging and other clinical measurements.~To determine the degrees of response of each patient to APG-157 (considering patient's diagnosis/staging and local treatment) using proposed primary, secondary and exploratory endpoints.~The results from this study will be used to finalize the design of subsequent Phase 2B study (single arm for specific patient population and local treatment) to demonstrate statistically significant efficacy outcomes.
The purpose of this clinical research study is to study safety and efficacy of orally administered APG-157 as the neoadjuvant/induction therapy in newly diagnosed, locally advanced patients with Head & Neck Cancer of oral cavity and/or oropharynx.~The study hypothesis is that neoadjuvant use of APG-157 will reduce the tumor burden prior to any definitive therapy to improve the outcomes over current standard of care.