S0618 E7389 in Treating Patients With Metastatic or Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Histologically or cytologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) * Disease is either metastatic at diagnosis or has persisted, metastasized, or recurred after definitive surgery and/or radiotherapy * Not amenable to surgical resection for salvage therapy * No newly diagnosed nonmetastatic disease * No salivary or nasopharyngeal primary disease * Patients who have failed primary surgery alone, and who have disease that is salvageable by radiation or chemoradiation, are not eligible * Measurable disease * Measurable disease within a previous radiotherapy port must demonstrate clearly progressive disease * No active or prior CNS metastasis PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: * Zubrod performance status 0-1 * Absolute granulocyte count ≥ 1,500/mm³ * Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³ * Bilirubin ≤ 2 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * SGOT and SGPT ≤ 2 times ULN * Creatinine ≤ 2 times ULN * Not pregnant or nursing * Fertile patients must use effective contraception * No known HIV positivity * No prior malignancies except for the following: * Adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer * In situ cervical cancer * Adequately treated stage I or II cancer currently in complete remission * Any other cancer for which the patient has been disease free for ≥ 5 years PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: * See Disease Characteristics * No prior chemotherapy for recurrent or newly diagnosed metastatic disease * At least 6 months since prior induction or adjuvant chemotherapy for patients who relapsed after receiving this therapy * No more than 1 prior induction or adjuvant regimen (may have included a taxane) * More than 2 weeks since prior biologic therapy (i.e., epidermal growth factor inhibitors and vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors) * More than 28 days since prior radiotherapy and recovered * More than 28 days since prior surgery and recovered * No other concurrent therapy (i.e., radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, biologic therapy, or gene therapy) for SCCHN * No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients * No concurrent prophylactic colony-stimulating factors during course 1