Onco Actu du 7 juillet 2015

	3.1 Tabac
WHO urges governments to raise tobacco taxes to beat smoking [Reuters] In a report entitled "The Global Tobacco Epidemic 2015", the United Nations health agency said that too few governments make full use of tobacco taxes to dissuade people from smoking or help them to cut down and quit. It recommends that at least 75 percent of the price of a pack of cigarettes should be tax.
	4.1 Dép., diag. & prono. - Prostate
Op-Ed Contributor: Bring Back Prostate Screening [NY Times] That is what frustrates urologists most: Rather than using refined screening techniques to identify those who will benefit most from treatment, we’re just evaluating fewer men. So the task force needs to re-evaluate its recommendation based on the current state of medical knowledge.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
A Perfect Blood Test For Pancreatic Cancer? [Forbes] The main problem with the study is that the biomarker also “lit up” in blood from patients with breast cancer, in 24 of 32 serum samples tested.
	4.2 Dép., diag. & prono. - Génome
Who should we screen for the BRCA gene? [Cancer World] Most people carrying harmful BRCA mutations only find out after they are diagnosed with cancer, and often not even then. Population screening is costly and the results can be hard to interpret. But should we do it anyway?
	4.9 Dép., diag. & prono. - Sein
Screening mammograms don't prevent breast cancer deaths, study finds [LA Times] After reviewing cancer registry records from 547 counties across the United States, researchers concluded that the screening tests aren’t working as hoped. Instead of preventing deaths by uncovering breast tumors at an early, more curable stage, screening mammograms have mainly found small tumors that would have been harmless if left alone.
Mammograms may not reduce breast cancer deaths [Reuters] "The most dramatic finding of our study is the immediately evident - and substantial - evidence of breast cancer overdiagnosis."
	5. Traitements
Pazopanib improves progression-free survival without impairing health-related quality of life [EORTC] “This is one of the few randomized clinical trials with quality of life studies undertaken in metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma in such a robust manner."
	5.2 Pharma
Eli Lilly preps a familiar case for FDA review of a marginal cancer drug [FierceBiotech] That 1.6-month advantage offers Lilly a chance to make the case that this drug would be a useful addition to oncologists' cache of cancer-fighting weapons, particularly as lung cancer has proved a tough target for developers over the years, with few new alternative treatments to pick from.
Phase III data published in The Lancet Oncology shows a significant overall survival benefit of Giotrif® (afatinib) compared to Tarceva® (erlotinib) in patients with previously treated advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the lung [Boehringer Ingelheim] While afatinib is not yet approved for use in patients with SCC, the study showed that treatment with afatinib, an irreversible ErbB Family Blocker, resulted in superior progression-free survival (PFS, primary endpoint) and overall survival (OS, key secondary endpoint) compared to erlotinib in this patient population.
Daratumumab Expanded Access Program Open to Eligible U.S. Patients with Heavily Pre-Treated Multiple Myeloma [Johnson & Johnson] In the U.S., EAPs are conducted as clinical trials and designed to make investigational medicines available for patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses who are ineligible for ongoing interventional trials and have exhausted currently available treatment options. Up to 40 medical centers in the U.S. will enroll patients in the daratumumab EAP.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Greek Crisis Prompts Industry Clash Over Drug Prices and Supplies [Wall Street Journal] The EFPIA spokesman says that, should Greece adopts its own currency, it “could depreciate quickly” and prompt wholesalers to steer drugs to other European countries.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA,...
Serious Risks And Few New Benefits From FDA-Approved Drugs [Health Affairs Blog] New FDA policies to get more drugs reviewed faster so that they can reach patients sooner result ironically in even more drugs being approved with less evidence that they are either safer or more effective. Faster reviews mean the chance that a drug will generate an FDA warning of serious harm jumps from one in five to one in three.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA)
Improving safety of medicines across Europe [EMA] EMA publication of safety reports for nationally authorised medicines will support timely and harmonised implementation of safety measures in EU Member States.
European Medicines Agency Recommends Granting a Marketing Authorisation for Docetaxel Hospira UK Limited [ESMO] It is a generic of Taxotere, which has been authorised in the EU since 1995.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Is There a Breaking Point for Immunotherapy Costs? [The OBR Blog] Given the potential curative nature of immunotherapy, what level of false negatives will physicians and patients tolerate? This is yet another example of technology outpacing policy. The question is, when and how will payers and policy-makers catch up?
	5.5 ASCO
ASCO Endorses ASTRO Guideline on Radiation Therapy After Surgery for Endometrial Cancer [ASCO] “We hope that this endorsement will help standardize treatments, so that all women receive the best care possible.”
	5.6 ESMO
ArQule Announces Interim Phase 2 Study Results for Tivantinib in Combination with Cetuximab in Patients with MET-High, KRAS Wild Type Colorectal Cancer Presented at ESMO World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2015 [ArQule] Stage 1 endpoint of Objective Response Rate (ORR) met, study proceeding to Stage 2.
	6.1 Observation
Things are getting better, not worse, when it comes to cancer [The Incidental Economist] Let me be clear: the number of people dying from cancer in the US may increase in the future. In fact, I think it’s likely. But that’s mostly because of demographics and a growing population. The risk of dying from cancer, ie the rate of death per population, is going down. This is a good thing. It means that in general, we’re doing something right here. Pick something else for your panic du jour.
	6.4 Médico-éco
Prescribing in England up 55% to £9bn over a decade [Pharmafile] The report, Prescriptions Dispensed in the Community 2004-2014, looks at prescriptions dispensed in England at pharmacists and dispensing doctors’ practices – so largely covers primary care prescriptions and not those issued and dispensed at hospital pharmacies.
	6.6 Publications
Cancer Research retraction is fifth for Robert Weinberg; fourth for his former student [Retraction Watch] Four of Weinberg’s retracted papers — including this latest — share a first author: Scott Valastyan, once a very promising grad student in Weinberg’s lab. This retraction, like Valastyan’s others, is linked to his retracted 2009 Cell paper. (That paper was cited 482 times, and there’s even a video from the Cell press office to go with it).