Onco Actu du 19 novembre 2015

	3.1 Tabac
Joe Nocera’s contentious e-cigarette crusade [HealthNewsReview] “The Nocera fantasy is that the only thing that happens is smokers switch to e-cigarettes, and a bunch of them quit smoking cigarettes,” says Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a leading tobacco researcher and activist. But that’s not the whole story.
	3.3 Prévention - Vaccins
Give HPV vaccine to men who have sex with men, government told [The Guardian] The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommends three doses for men aged up to 45 who attend clinics specialising in treating HIV and genitourinary conditions. There should be no lower age limit, it says.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Study Advances Potential Test to Sort Out Precancerous Pancreatic Cysts From More Harmless Ones [Johns Hopkins] In a “look-back” analysis of data stored on 130 patients with pancreatic cysts, scientists at Johns Hopkins have used gene-based tests and a fixed set of clinical criteria to more accurately distinguish precancerous cysts from those less likely to do harm.
Can pigeons home in on cancer? [Cancer Research UK] But can pigeons really detect the disease? The short answer is ‘no’, but – as you’ll see below – we do have much to learn about how our own brains process images, and pigeons could well play a role in understanding this better.
Pigeons tend to land on the right spot when looking for breast cancer [Reuters] Years of schooling and training are needed to teach pathologists and radiologists to spot cancer on medical images, but a new study finds that pigeons can be about as accurate as these professionals, with the help of a few food pellets.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Blood test detects ovarian cancer in nine out of 10 patients [The Telegraph] Researchers, using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry techniques coupled with machine learning computer algorithms, have identified 16 metabolite compounds that provided unprecedented accuracy in distinguishing 46 women with early-stage ovarian cancer from a control group of 49 women who did not have the disease.
	4.9 Dép., diag. & prono. - Sein
Prospective Validation of a 21-Gene Expression Assay (OncotypeDX) in Breast Cancer [Now@NEJM] Clearly we have come a long way from Halsted’s day of the radical mastectomy but still have far to go.
	5.2 Pharma
Pfizer Reports Positive Topline Results from Phase 3 Trial Comparing XALKORI® (crizotinib) to Chemotherapy in Previously Untreated East Asian Patients with ALK-Positive Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) [Pfizer] Data Reinforces XALKORI Superiority Over Chemotherapy in Prolonging PFS in Patients with ALK-Positive Advanced NSCLC.
New Long-Term Data on Opdivo and the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen Shows Survival Benefit Across Lines of Therapy in Advanced Melanoma [BMS] First and only PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor to demonstrate two-year overall survival data in a Phase 3 trial, CheckMate -066, with nearly 60% of patients still alive at two years.
Servier and Pfizer get rights to Cellectis cancer cell therapy [Reuters] Cellectis will get $38.2 million upfront from Servier and is eligible for over $300 million in milestone payments, research financing and royalties on sales. Financial terms for the Servier agreement with Pfizer were not disclosed.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
Lilly and Merck Expand Immuno-oncology Collaboration with Phase III Nonsquamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Trial [Merck] The expansion of this oncology clinical trial collaboration comes following the release of encouraging data from a Phase I study, presented earlier this year at the 16th World Congress on Lung Cancer, which evaluated pemetrexed, carboplatin and pembrolizumab in first-line nonsquamous NSCLC.
	5.2.2 Pharma - Fusions & Acquisitions
Pfizer close to record-breaking Allergan deal at up to $380 per share: Bloomberg [FiercePharma] One major impetus behind the potential deal is Pfizer's desire for a tax inversion, which would move the company's domicile abroad and cut its tax rate considerably.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA,...
Merck KGaA, Pfizer bag 'breakthrough' status for PD-L1 immunotherapy [FierceBiotech] MCC has garnered the most headlines in recent months, but Merck KGaA thinks avelumab can also claim a spot among the first immunotherapies to win approval for the treatment of ovarian, gastric, bladder and renal cancers.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer Receive FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Avelumab in Metastatic Merkel Cell Carcinoma [Pfizer] The Breakthrough Therapy designation is based on the preliminary evaluation of clinical data from the global Phase II study, JAVELIN Merkel 200, which is assessing the safety and efficacy of avelumab in patients with metastatic MCC whose disease has progressed after at least one prior chemotherapy regimen.
Approvals (and Otherwise) in Oncology [In the Pipeline] There have been several big up-or-down moves in oncology drug development the last few days.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
NICE says 'no' to personalised bowel cancer drugs [PharmaTimes] While recognising their clinical effectiveness, the Institute’s Expert Review group concluded that even if they were provided for free they would still not be cost-effective, as the methodology used takes into account all the associated treatment costs, including the partner chemo regimens and hospital expenses.
NICE decision restricts Bayer’s Xofigo to select prostate cancer patients [Pharmafile] NICE has issued its Final Appraisal Determination (FAD) recommending Bayer’s Xofigo (radium-223 dichloride) for use on the NHS in England as an option for treating adult men, with hormone-relapsed prostate cancer, symptomatic bone metastases and no known visceral metastases, who have received previous docetaxel therapy.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
The Cost of Cancer Disparities [CANCER RESEARCH Catalyst] The AACR’s disparities conference covered a wide array of issues this year, from the biological factors that make some racial and ethnic groups especially prone to certain types of cancer, to intriguing new ways to improve prevention and detection.
	6.1 Observation
Childhood cancers more likely to come from major cancer genes than scientists thought [Science] The researchers, at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and Washington University in St. Louis in Missouri, and led by pediatric researcher and St. Jude’s CEO James Downing, hunted for dangerous genes in 1120 cancer patients under the age of 20.
Many children with cancer were born at risk: U.S. study [Reuters] Gene sequencing of more than 1,000 children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer found that as many as 8.5 percent were born with genes that increase their risk of developing cancer.
	6.10 Politiques
Decision time for new EU rules on how researchers use personal data [Cancer Research UK] It’s a key time for research across the EU. For the last four years, an important European data law has been batted back and forth between different parts of the EU policy process. And now those talks are reaching the final stages – and we need your help.
	6.6 Publications
MD Anderson researcher Aggarwal up to six corrections [Retraction Watch] Bharat Aggarwal is the last author on all three papers. He is now up to six corrections, two unexplained withdrawals, and two Expressions of Concern. He’s also threatened to sue us in the past, and has told us that his institution has been looking into his work.
	6.9 Controverses
J&J Says There Were No Reportable Morcellation Events; Whistleblower Disagrees—and Produces Letters [The Cancer Letter] Lamparter said J&J’s statement that the company was not “aware of…the possibility of upstaged cancer prior to December 2013” ignores his past correspondence with Ethicon.
Congressional Panel Chair Questions Whether J&J, Brigham Reported Morcellation Adverse Events to FDA [The Cancer Letter] The congressional hearing this week was part of a string of investigations of the controversy stemming from widespread use of power morcellators, gynecological devices now known to spread undetected cancers during hysterectomies and myomectomies.