Onco Actu du 10 décembre 2015

	1. Biologie
Cancer Treatments May Need To Be Tailored To Each Tumor [NPR] It's very hard to figure out how to find the right drug for a specific patient. A paper published Friday in Nature Communications suggests one thing that might help is identifying the astonishing mix of cells inside a tumor. It's not just cancer in there.
	3.1 Tabac
Tobacco firms challenge plain packaging rules [BBC News] Four of the world's biggest tobacco firms are to begin a legal challenge to the government's new packaging rules.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Imaging test detects aggressive and treatment-resistant cancers [The Institute of Cancer Research] Researchers used an emerging technology called oxygen-enhanced MRI to produce maps of hypoxia within tumours grown by implanting cancer cells into mice. The technology is now being further developed through clinical studies of cancer patients.
	5. Traitements
Blocking body’s first immune response could reduce cancer spread [Cancer Research UK] “Our research confirms that neutrophils can boost cancer spread and sheds new light on how they do this, by uncovering the vital role played by neutrophils’ chemical messengers. Most importantly, our work suggests a way of targeting the messengers and stopping them from aiding cancer spread.
Turning Red Blood Cells into Versatile Drug Carriers [MIT Technology Review] The company is remaining tight-lipped about what additional therapies might be in the pipeline, but Kahvejian says the potential for new drugs based on red blood cells is “only limited by your imagination.”
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Pioneering cancer treatment engineers immune systems to fight disease [The Guardian] Head and neck cancer patients undergo trial involving genetically modifying their white blood cells to recognise and attack the tumour.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer Initiate Two Phase III Studies of Investigational Immunotherapy Avelumab in Advanced Gastric and Gastro-esophageal Junction Cancers [Pfizer] Trials mark third and fourth Phase III studies of avelumab initiated by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer this year.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Erytech raises €25M to broaden cancer pipeline ahead of possible Nasdaq IPO [FierceBiotech] Lyon, France-based Erytech will funnel the money into three drug development programs, the most advanced of which is Graspa, a drug that destroys asparagine in an attempt to starve cancer cells of nutrients.
Medigene jumps 33% as cancer vax shows promise in hard-to-treat patients [FierceBiotech] Medigene has preliminary evidence its bet on autologous dendritic cell vaccines could pay off. The release of encouraging data from an early-phase trial and compassionate-use program sparked a surge in investor interest in Medigene, driving up its stock by more than 30% in a day.
Cellectis suffers worst day in two years after Pfizer event disappoints investors [FierceBiotech] The dropoff was exacerbated by broader negative sentiment toward biotech stocks on the back of perceived disappointment with some of the data presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting.
New Genmab Darzalex drug results seen increase sales [Reuters] Danish biotech Genmab, which has seen its shares rocket 163 percent this year, is set for further gains as new research data showed increased potential for its Darzalex blood cancer treatment, analysts said on Wednesday.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA,...
"EMA ready to address challenges ahead" [EMA] Executive Director Guido Rasi outlined his vision for his five-year mandate at the helm of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), at a press briefing today.
Smarter regulation can help cut drug prices, says EU agency head [Reuters] Central to this is the EMA's so-called "adaptive pathways" initiative, under which drugs would be approved early for restricted patient populations based on small initial clinical trials. Approval would then be expanded progressively, based on additional studies, reflecting the reality that evidence develops continually as clinical data builds up.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
We can't ignore a young woman’s plea for a rare cancer drug [The Guardian] Australian Jessica Pereira’s moving plight to find funding for a costly targeted therapy to treat her rare lymphoma surfaced simultaneously as former President Jimmy Carter rejoiced that there was no sign of the melanoma that had spread to his liver and brain, thanks to another blockbuster immunotherapy. The juxtaposition was ironic.
	5.7.1 SABCS-communiqués
Multiple Scientific Presentations at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Highlight the Clinical Utility of the Myriad myRisk(TM) Hereditary Cancer Gene Panel Test [Myriad] Data include results from studies that advance the understanding of hereditary cancer testing using multi-gene panels to evaluate patients at risk for or diagnosed with breast cancer.
Halozyme Therapeutics and Eisai to present data evaluating the antitumor effects of PEGPH20 in combination with eribulin mesylate in preclinical breast cancer models [Halozyme Therapeutics] Halozyme's investigational new candidate drug, PEGPH20 targets the degradation of HA, a glycosaminoglycan or chain of natural sugars that may accumulate in certain tumors.
Abstracts at San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Highlight ABRAXANE® as a Potential Backbone Therapy in Neoadjuvant and Triple-Negative-Breast Cancer [Celgene] ABRAXANE® for Injectable Suspension (paclitaxel protein-bound particles for injectable suspension)(albumin-bound) is indicated for the treatment of breast cancer after failure of combination chemotherapy for metastatic disease or relapse within 6 months of adjuvant chemotherapy. Prior therapy should have included an anthracycline unless clinically contraindicated.
	5.7.2 SABCS-divers
Study links body fat, weight loss, and chromosome length in breast cancer patients [YaleNews] The Yale study — among the few to explore a link between weight loss and telomere length in breast cancer survivors — found that telomeres were slower to shorten in breast cancer survivors who lost weight through diet and exercise.
Older Breast Cancer Patients Defy Survival Models [Duke Medicine] The finding provides a stronger rationale for women over the age of 70 -- even those who have additional minor health concerns -- to undergo aggressive treatments such as chemotherapy to prevent their cancer from returning.
	5.7.3 SABCS-AACR
Pathologic Complete Response to Presurgery Chemotherapy Improves Survival for Patients With Triple-negative Breast Cancer [AACR] Our results need to be considered alongside data from prior and ongoing studies with these agents in TNBC. Going forward, the question is whether we want to commit the additional patients and resources necessary to answer this question or instead focus our research efforts in TNBC on other opportunities to improve outcomes.
Women With Luminal A Subtype of Breast Cancer Did Not Benefit From Adjuvant Chemotherapy [AACR] Between 1977 and 1983, 1,146 premenopausal women who had lymph node-positive invasive breast cancer that was larger than 5 cm were randomized to two chemotherapy arms and two no- chemotherapy arms in the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group 77B trial.
Denosumab Improves Disease-free Survival for Postmenopausal Patients With HR-positive Breast Cancer [AACR] The researchers found that after a median follow-up of four years, patients assigned denosumab had an 18 percent reduced risk of disease recurring compared with those assigned placebo.
Capecitabine Improved Outcomes for Breast Cancer Patients With Residual Disease After Presurgery Chemotherapy [AACR] Toi and colleagues enrolled 910 patients in the trial all of whom had HER2-negative breast cancer and residual invasive disease after neoadjuvant therapy that included an anthracycline and/or a taxane.
	5.8 ASH
Venetoclax Is A Powerful New Kind of Cancer Drug Effective In Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia [Forbes] Why I like about Venetoclax is that it derives from science, and that it works. Like many other new targeted drugs, it comes as a pill. The problem for patients and doctors, moving forward, will be how to manage its potentially toxic strength – to give it with care – and how best to dose Venetoclax in combination with other agents.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Keeping A Cool Head On Cold Cap news [Dr. Len's Blog] I don’t know why Adriamycin patients weren’t included, or whether the outcomes would have been the same as reported for the other drugs. But it’s a question that must be asked. It is in fact a significant piece of information, and not one that should be buried in an abstract that appeared a number of months ago.
	6.6 Publications
The Magic of Peer Review [In the Pipeline] Science does not rest on a foundation of peer review; it rests on a foundation of reproducible experimental results. Peer review is just one method to get more of those out into places where other scientists can see them and build on them.
Cancer researcher contributed "false data" to 11 studies [Retraction Watch] The Office of Research Integrity’s findings are based on an inquiry at Virginia Commonwealth University, where Girija Dasmahapatra worked until July of this year, investigating possible therapies for cancer.
	6.8 Communication
Will Stahl-Timmins: Almost impossible cancer spaghetti [BMJ Blogs] The NICE guidelines on referral of suspected cancer were updated earlier this year, and I was asked to take a look at the tabulated data and try and turn it into something more visually appealing.
Is it ok for journalists to attend Bayer-funded training on new cancer treatments? [HealthNewsReview] Would one expect critical, penetrating journalism resulting from such trainings? Maybe yes; maybe no. But when journalists attend events such as the NPF’s on the sponsor’s dime, they are taking a gift, plain and simple. As innocent as that may appear, a gift implies reciprocity.