Akt Inhibitor MK2206 in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer

Exclusion Criteria

• •Any of the following
• •* Chemotherapy =\< 4 weeks prior to registration
• •* Radiotherapy =\< 4 weeks prior to registration
• •* Nitrosoureas or Mitomycin C =\< 4 weeks prior to registration
• •* Those who have not recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier
• •* NOTE: Prior palliative radiotherapy to bone metastases is allowed =\< 4 weeks prior to registration
• •Prior investigational agents =\< 4 weeks prior to registration
• •Symptomatic brain metastases; NOTE: primary nasopharyngeal cancers that directly invade the skull base and extend into the infratemporal fossa(e) are not regarded as brain metastases and are not excluded
• •History of allergic reactions attributed to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to MK-2206 or other agents used in the study
• •Prior potent and moderate inhibitors and inducers of CYP3A4 =\< 2 weeks prior to registration:
• •* Drugs that are forbidden, potent inducers of CYP3A4: phenytoin, phenobarbitone, carbamazepine, barbiturate, rifampicin, St John's Wort.
• •* Drugs that significantly affect metabolizing activity by way of enzyme inhibition of CYP3A4: ketoconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole, indinavir, ritonavir, erythromycin, cimetidine, clarithromycin
• •Unwillingness to go off other inducers and inhibitors of CYP3A4 during the first 2 cycles of MK-2206; NOTE: avoiding these drugs is critical during the first 2 cycles of MK-2206when blood samples are being taken for the correlative study unless there is an urgent medical need and alternatives are not available
• •QTc prolongation (defined as a QTc interval \> 450 msec for males and \>470 msec for females) or other significant ECG abnormalities; NOTE: patients with clinically significant cardiac conduction abnormalities should be excluded, these include left bundle branch block (LBBB), 2nd or 3rd degree AV block, bifascicular block, sick sinus syndrome, Wolff-Parkinson-white syndrome, sinus bradycardia (\< 50bpm); however, patients with asymptomatic right bundle branch block (RBBB) or 1st degree AV block, in the absence of known cardiac disease (e.g. coronary, valvular) are not excluded
• •Uncontrolled intercurrent illness including, but not limited to:
• •* Ongoing or active infection,
• •* Symptomatic congestive heart failure,
• •* Unstable angina pectoris,
• •* Uncontrolled symptomatic cardiac arrhythmia,
• •* Psychiatric illness/social situations that would limit compliance with study requirements
• •Diagnosed to have any of the following condition(s), and/or have undergone any one of the following procedure(s) =\< 3 months prior to registration:
• •* Symptomatic thrombotic or hemorrhagic cerebral vascular accident
• •* Coronary bypass graft
• •* Angioplasty
• •* Myocardial infarction
• •Patients having continuing \>= grade 2 adverse events (excluding alopecia) due to agents (chemotherapy or radiotherapy) administered \> 4 weeks prior to registration based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE version 4.0) =\< grade 1
• •Any of the following:
• •* Pregnant women
• •* Nursing women
• •* Men or women of childbearing potential who are unwilling to employ adequate contraception
• •* NOTE: because there is an unknown but potential risk for adverse events in nursing infants secondary to treatment of the mother with MK-2206, breastfeeding should be discontinued if the mother is treated with MK-2206; women of childbearing potential and men must use two forms of contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation
• •HIV-positive patients on combination antiretroviral therapy; NOTE: HIV-positive patients on combination antiretroviral therapy are ineligible because of the potential for pharmacokinetic interactions with MK-2206; in addition, these patients are at increased risk of lethal infections when treated with marrow-suppressive therapy
• •Recent major surgery =\< 4 weeks prior to registration (excluding the placement of vascular access), or minor surgery =\< 2 weeks prior to registration
• •Any condition (e.g., gastrointestinal tract disease resulting in an inability to take oral medication or a requirement for IV alimentation, prior surgical procedures affecting absorption) that impairs patients ability to swallow MK-2206 tablets