Onco Actu du 28 septembre 2015 - Spécial ECC 2015

	5.6 ESMO
Call to improve radiotherapy access around world [BBC News] Millions of people globally have died unnecessarily from cancers that could have been treated by radiotherapy, according to doctors. The data is being presented at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna.
Six New Countries Join the List of ESMO Designated Centres of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care [ESMO] This year the group of Designated Centres has been joined by six new countries, such as Lebanon, Kuwait, Mexico, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Taiwan.
The Lancet Oncology Press Release: Tackling the Global Shortfall in Radiotherapy Could Save Millions of Lives and Boost the Economy of Poorer Countries [ESMO] Investment in radiotherapy services could bring economic benefits of up to US$ 365 billion in developing countries over the next 20 years.
ESMO Commentary: Migrants, Refugees and Neglected Patient Populations: nationality and social status still affect cancer care quality [ESMO] As the Europe migrant crisis grows, Dr Alexandru Eniu, Chair of the ESMO Emerging Countries Committee and ESMO Executive Board member, points out possible strategies to overcome disparities in cancer care.
	5.6.1 ESMO - Essais
Novartis drug Afinitor® significantly improves progression-free survival in advanced nonfunctional gastrointestinal and lung NET [Novartis] RADIANT-4 results highlighted at key European cancer congress; worldwide regulatory filings are underway.
New Data from KEYNOTE-028, Merck’s Trial Evaluating KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) Across a Range of Cancer Types, Presented at 2015 European Cancer Congress [Merck] Findings Show Anti-Tumor Activity for KEYTRUDA in Two Gastrointestinal Cancers.
Regional Hyperthermia Added to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Doubles Length of Overall Survival in Patients With Localised High-Risk Soft Tissue Sarcoma [ESMO] Long-term follow-up of EORTC study strongly supports adding regional hyperthermia to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Rare cancer responds unusually well to new treatment: results from the NETTER-1 trial [ESMO] "Results so far show that patients on Lutathera are achieving extra time without their disease progressing. This kind of PFS is rarely achieved in cancer."
Results of International Trial Show Promise in Rare, Difficult to Treat Cancer: results from the RADIANT-4 trial [ESMO] The trial included 302 patients with a median age of 63. After randomisation, 205 received everolimus and 97 placebo.
Progression-Free Survival Prolonged with Everolimus in Patients with Advanced Lung/Gastrointestinal Neuroendocrine Tumours [ESMO] Results from the RADIANT-4 trial may guide treatment of patients with advanced, progressive, non-functional lung/gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumours.
	5.6.10 ESMO - Vessie
Roche says new drug shows benefits in lung, bladder cancer tests [Reuters] In its Phase II trial targeting advanced or metastatic bladder cancer, Roche said its atezolizumab immunotherapy drug shrank tumors in 27 percent of people who expressed medium and high levels of PD-L1, a protein that appears to help cancers evade the immune system.
Roche presents positive results from pivotal study of investigational immunotherapy atezolizumab in specific type of advanced bladder cancer at 2015 European Cancer Congress [Roche] Results show PD-L1 expression correlated with response to atezolizumab.
Novel Atezolizumab Shows Promise in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma [ESMO] The phase II IMvigor 210 study of second-line treatment with PD-L1 targeting atezolizumab in metastatic urothelial carcinoma met its primary endpoint of overall response rate by RESIST 1.1.
	5.6.11 ESMO- Rein
Bristol, Exelixis Drugs Demonstrate Treatment Benefit in Kidney Cancer [TheStreet] Based on these positive data, Bristol and Exelixis are both likely to secure new approvals next year for Opdivo and Cometriq to treat second-line kidney cancer patients. Which drug grabs a larger share of patients? Investors will be probing kidney cancer doctors at this weekend's meeting to see which drug they prefer.
Opdivo (nivolumab) Demonstrates Superior Overall Survival in a Phase 3 Trial Compared to Standard of Care in Patients with Previously Treated Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma [BMS] This is the first Phase 3 study to demonstrate the efficacy of an immune checkpoint inhibitor in advanced renal cell carcinoma.
Two Kidney Cancer Drugs Show Promise in Separate Studies [Wall Street Journal] Drugs by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Exelixis proved superior in tests to current standard treatment.
Two new kidney cancer drugs 'work' [BBC News] "Cabozantinib, a targeted therapy, and nivolumab, an immunotherapy, fight cancer in very different ways, so making either available for use in the clinic will greatly expand the arsenal for clinicians to treat kidney cancer patients."
Bristol's Opdivo boosts kidney cancer survival beyond two years [Reuters] Padmanee Sharma of the U.S. MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the lead researchers on the study, said patients taking Opdivo had a median overall survival of 25 months as compared to 19.6 months for those taking Afinitor.
Cabozantinib Out-Performs Everolimus in Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma [ESMO] Results from the METEOR trial open the door for new tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment option for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.
Nivolumab Improves Overall Survival in Patients with Advanced Kidney Cancer: results from the CheckMate 025 trial [ESMO] “The finding that overall survival was higher among patients treated with nivolumab, irrespective of PD-L1 expression, suggests that PD-L1 expression should not be used to determine which patients might respond to the therapy and whether or not offer it to them.”
Cabozantinib Improves Survival in Patients with Advanced Kidney Cancer: results from the METEOR trial [ESMO] Patients with advanced kidney cancer live for nearly twice as long without their disease progressing if they are treated with cabozantinib, a drug that inhibits the action of tyrosine kinases – enzymes that function as an “on” or “off” switch in many cellular processes, including cancer.
2 New Drugs Prove More Effective Against Kidney Cancer, Studies Find [NY Times] Dr. Robert J. Motzer, one of the leaders of both studies, said the findings on nivolumab were a major advance that would change the field and affect most patients worldwide with advanced kidney cancer.
	5.6.12 ESMO - Observation
Primary Surgery is Associated with Survival Benefit in Patients with Advanced Cancers of the Throat [ESMO] In stage III oropharyngeal cancer, rates of overall survival at five years were 59% for those who had surgery versus 48% for those who did not. In stage IVa oropharyngeal cancer, rates were 51% among those who had surgery versus 40% without.
EUROCARE Results Show Large Variations in Survival from Blood Cancers Between European Countries [ESMO] New analysis also shows lower survival from all cancers in Denmark, the UK and Eastern Europe than in neighbouring countries.
Childhood Cancers in Europe: progress has been made, but much remains to be done, says major report [ESMO] “This is a serious problem, for patients, their families, and for health services, with major inequalities existing across Europe,” says Professor Gilles Vassal, from the Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, and President of SIOPE.
Treatment of elderly patients with breast cancer varies between different countries throughout Europe [ESMO] The European Registration of Cancer Care (EURECCA) study compared the treatment patterns of 119,125 patients aged 70 and older in Belgium, Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Poland and the UK, who were diagnosed with non-metastatic (stage I, II or III) breast cancer between 2000 and 2014.
ESMO Commentary: The variable access to best cancer care in Europe may affect clinical outcomes and survival in older patients [ESMO] Cancer is a disease of old age, with patients aged 65 years and above making up 60% of the total population of cancer patients. But studies are lacking or at least only retrospective ones are conducted.
	5.6.13 ESMO - Prostate
Anti-tumour Activity Demonstrated with Orteronel in Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer [ESMO] Prolonged event-free survival achieved with orteronel as switch maintenance therapy in patients with non-progressive disease following chemotherapy.
	5.6.2 ESMO - Divers
Aspirin can double life expectancy of those with common cancers [The Telegraph] Major study finds those taking aspirin live twice as long after a diagnosis with some of the most common forms of cancer.
Genetic Screening of Brain Metastases Could Reveal New Targets for Treatment [ESMO] In 56% of patients, genetic alterations that potentially could be targeted with drugs were found in the brain metastasis but not in the primary tumour.
Post Diagnosis Aspirin Improves Survival in all Gastrointestinal Cancers [ESMO] The beneficial effect of aspirin use on survival was seen in patients with GI tumours after adjusting for potential confounding factors such as sex, age, stage of cancer, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other medical conditions or disorders.
	5.6.4 ESMO - Poumon
VARGATEF® plus docetaxel significantly reduced tumour burden in lung cancer patients with advanced adenocarcinoma compared to docetaxel alone [Boehringer Ingelheim] Patients with advanced adenocarcinoma receiving VARGATEF® plus docetaxel benefited from about 10% reduction in tumour growth over six months of treatment compared to those receiving placebo plus docetaxel.
GIOTRIF® (afatinib) demonstrates superior survival compared to Tarceva® (erlotinib) for patients with previously treated advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, independent of EGFR mutation status [Boehringer Ingelheim] Further data presented at ECC confirm the efficacy of afatinib observed in the LUX-Lung 8 trial was associated with improvements in patient reported outcomes.
Two positive studies of Roche’s investigational cancer immunotherapy atezolizumab in specific type of lung cancer presented at 2015 European Cancer Congress [Roche] Data will be submitted to global health authorities, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
ESMO Commentary: Atezolizumab Set to Change Refractory Lung Cancer Treatment [ESMO] "It is to be expected that atezolizumab, like other PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies, will substantially change treatment strategies of patients with refractory lung cancer.” First-line treatment is also promising, said Reck.
Nivolumab Improves the Proportion of Lung Cancer Patients Alive After More Than a Year [ESMO] This improvement in survival was observed for all patients included in the trial, but nivolumab was more effective in patients whose tumours expressed a protein called programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), which plays a role in the immune system’s ability to recognise and attack tumours and has been correlated with response to immune checkpoint inhibitors such as nivolumab.
	5.6.5 ESMO - Mélanome & Peau
Induction with Nivolumab Followed by Ipilimumab Most Effective Temporal Approach in Non-Resectable Melanoma [ESMO] Phase II CheckMate 064 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy with sequential administration of nivolumab followed by ipilimumab versus ipilimumab followed by nivolumab.
Patients with aggressive form of melanoma lived for more than two years on average when taking Novartis therapies Tafinlar® + Mekinist® [Novartis] "It is remarkable to see so many patients with BRAF V600E/K mutation-positive metastatic melanoma having long term responses and obtaining a significant decrease of the risk of death as compared with vemurafenib monotherapy," said Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, Head of Dermatology, Institute Gustave-Roussy.
Blocking PD1 Shows Promise in Merkel Cell Carcinoma [ESMO] They noted that among the 10 patients evaluated receiving pembrolizumab monotherapy as the first systemic intervention, 8 have shown evidence (5 confirmed and 3 unconfirmed by subsequent scans) of response to PD-1 pathway blockade and 3 of 3 additional patients with clinically evaluable metastases have shown clinical regression of tumours (prior to first scan).
Greater Clinical Benefit Obtained in Advanced BRAFV600-mutated Melanoma with Cobimetinib/Vemurafenib Over Vemurafenib Is Consistent Across Mutation Subtypes [ESMO] Updated analysis of coBRIM data at 14.2 month follow-up shows progression-free survival prolonged with combination treatment over sole vemurafenib.
A Combination of Two Targeted Therapies Results in Melanoma Patients Living Significantly Longer: new results [ESMO] “The increased survival among these patients is remarkable, and this median overall survival of more than two years is the longest in this category of patients in a phase III randomised trial.”
Drug Combination Improves Progression-Free Survival in Melanoma Patients Regardless of Genetic Status, Age and Spread of Disease [ESMO] Patients with advanced melanoma skin cancer survive for longer without their disease progressing if they have been treated with a combination of two drugs, nivolumab and ipilimumab, than with either of these drugs alone.
	5.6.6 ESMO - Sein
Two Large International Studies Provide Additional Prospective Data Reinforcing the Ability of Oncotype DX® to Accurately Predict Clinical Outcomes in Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients [Genomic Health] Presentations at 2015 European Cancer Congress Complement Watershed ECOG-ACRIN/NCI TAILORx Breast Cancer Study Results Published Today in The New England Journal of Medicine.
TAILORx trial finds 99 percent of women with low Oncotype DX® Recurrence Score® are free of breast cancer recurrence after five years of hormone therapy alone [Genomic Health] This finding, published online today by the New England Journal of Medicine, provides evidence that other women in the future may effectively use hormonal therapy alone if the Recurrence Score is 10 or less. Second primary cancers exceeded recurrences of the original breast cancer, resulting in 93.8 percent five year disease free survival, the primary trial endpoint.
Gene Test Helps Some Breast-Cancer Patients Skip Chemo, Study Says [Wall Street Journal] Oncotype DX can help women determine their treatment options.
TURANDOT: First-Line Bevacizumab Plus Capecitabine Shows Non-Inferior Overall Survival versus Bevacizumab plus Paclitaxel for Metastatic Breast Cancer [ESMO] Exploratory analyses suggest intriguing differences according to body surface area and menopausal status.
Hormonal Therapy Could Prevent Ovarian Failure and Preserve Fertility in Women with Breast Cancer [ESMO] Young women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer may be more likely to remain fertile if they also receive hormonal treatment.
ESMO Commentary: Preliminary Results from PERUSE Study Increase Treatment Options in HER-Positive Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer [ESMO] “The CLEOPATRA trial used only docetaxel. With PERUSE we now know that at least in terms of safety and tolerability we have good alternatives to docetaxel, namely nab-paclitaxel and paclitaxel, which for the majority of patients are probably less toxic,”
	5.6.7 ESMO - Immunothérapies
New Findings Show Anti-Tumor Activity of KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in Patients with Advanced Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma [Merck] KEYTRUDA Monotherapy Achieved Overall Response Rate of 22.2 Percent in Previously-Treated Patients.
Novel Assay Developed to Determine PD-L2 Expression in Tumour Samples [ESMO] PD-L2 is expressed in various human tumour types and may explain the response seen to anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with tumours lacking PD-L1 expression.
ESMO Commentary: Immune therapy brings new treatment options for lower GI cancers [ESMO] In the future, I expect the results we have seen with pembrolizumab in MSI colorectal cancer to be further confirmed. And we may also see combination treatments of other immune therapies, for instance combinations with CTLA-4-blocking antibodies and/or with angiogenesis inhibitors.
Roche says new drug shows benefits in lung, bladder cancer tests [Reuters] Roche, the largest maker of cancer drugs, is banking on atezolizumab as its next blockbuster to keep pace with rivals including Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb in cancer immunotherapy development. It hopes the drug will be on the market by late-2016 and said data from these latest studies will help.
	5.6.8 ESMO - Côlon-rectum
Discovery of differences between tumours of younger and older colorectal cancer patients may lead to better treatments [ESMO] "Finding such a distinctive molecular make-up in this group encourages us to believe that we may, in the future, be able to tailor treatments to them and attempt to prevent or slow down these processes in order to improve outcomes for them.”