Onco Actu du 11 janvier 2016

	3.7 Alcool
New alcohol advice issued [NHS Choices] The risks of cancers associated with drinking alcohol were not fully understood in 1995. Taking these risks on board, we can no longer say that there is such a thing as a "safe" level of drinking. There is only a "low risk" level of drinking.
New recommended drinking guidelines welcomed by NICE [NICE] The proposed guidelines say that any level of drinking raises the risk of a range of illnesses that include cancers of the mouth, throat and breast. Men are now advised to drink no more than 14 units per week to keep their health risks at a low level. This is the same level advised for women.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Illumina Creating Company to Develop Early-Stage Cancer Detection Test [NY Times] “If this pans out, this could be a real game changer,” said Dr. José Baselga, the physician in chief at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who will head the company’s science advisory board.
A Single Blood Test For All Cancers? Illumina, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos Launch Startup To Make It Happen [Forbes] Flatley concedes the company may need to take some smaller steps. One possibility would be to combine the GRAIL test with mammography. Mammograms have a high false positive rate. If a blood test could help point out women who don’t need painful biopsies, or detect cancers the mammograms miss, that would be a big deal on its own.
Startup backed by big names aims to detect early cancer in blood [STAT] The blood analysis, known as “liquid biopsy,” has become one of the hottest areas in biotechnology, though most companies want to use it to monitor existing cancer patients for signs that their disease has returned after treatment.
Illumina, partners make $100 million bet to detect cancer via blood test [Reuters] Illumina will be the majority owner. Key investors include technology giants Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.
Illumina’s Bid to Beat Cancer with DNA Tests [MIT Technology Review] “The hardest part is not only demonstrating the ability to detect cancer early, but being able to say this knowledge is in fact meaningful in terms of patient outcomes,” says J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
	5.2 Pharma
Five years on, why cancer drug Orazol never made it to market [STAT] Merrion envisioned blockbuster status for the product, which it said would be under patent until 2027 in a “multibillion dollar” niche. It also boasted of an “abbreviated development path” for the drug with European and US regulators.
	5.2.1 Pharma - Partenariats
Pfizer Enters into Translational Research Collaboration with Adaptive Biotechnologies to Help Advance Novel Immuno-Oncology Solutions [Pfizer] Adaptive Biotechnologies, the leading experts in profiling the immune cell repertoire, will work with Pfizer to apply their proprietary immunosequencing platform technology, bioinformatics capability, and scientific expertise to advance Pfizer’s rapidly expanding immuno-oncology pipeline.
Novartis provides $170M to kick off Surface Oncology partnership [FierceBiotech] The biotech is working on improving antigen uptake and presentation, blocking suppressor cells that populate the tumor microenvironment and heading off cytokines and metabolites that can blunt an immune system attack.
Sanofi and Warp Drive Bio to Collaborate on the Development of Novel Oncology Therapies and Antibiotics Based on Proprietary Platforms [Sanofi] New Collaboration to Provide Warp Drive Funding and Milestones in Excess of $750 Million.
Sanofi and Innate Pharma Collaborate on New Bispecific NK Cell Engagers in Immuno-Oncology [Sanofi] Innate Pharma eligible for up to €400m in milestones as well as royalties on net sales.
Sanofi deepens cancer drive with $1.2 bln of deals, Innate jumps [Reuters] Sanofi boosted its presence in cancer research on Monday by signing two deals with biotech companies worth up to $1.2 billion, as the French drugmaker plays catch-up with rivals in the hot research field.
Sanofi, Seeking New Cancer Drugs and Antibiotics, Doubles Down With Up To $750M for Warp Drive [Forbes] In November, Warp Drive announced at a scientific meeting that it hit upon a clever chemical strategy aimed at a molecular target called RAS . It’s a well-known target cancer biologists have been yearning to hit for years.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Drugmakers Raise Prices Despite Criticisms [Wall Street Journal] Pharmaceutical companies cite high cost of research as reason for price increases.
Pfizer hikes U.S. prices for over 100 drugs on January 1 [Reuters] Pfizer confirmed a 5 percent increase for Ibrance, a novel breast cancer drug launched last year at a list price of $9,850 per month, or $118,200 per year.
	6.1 Observation
Women and low-income patients 'twice as likely to suffer delays in brain tumour diagnosis' [The Guardian] The Brain Tumour Charity reports experiences of women who were denied scans and told they were attention-seeking or merely tired.
New U.S. cancer cases holding steady, deaths declining [Reuters] The number of new cancer diagnoses appears mostly stable in women. Among men, the rate of new cases fell 3 percent per year between 2009 and 2012, with the drop largely due to a reduction in prostate cancer screening.
	6.10 Politiques
Biden staff asks cancer researchers for quick 'moonshot' ideas [STAT] The researchers suggested two possible quick-payoff initiatives: a data-sharing program that would allow researchers to compare notes on how tumors respond to different therapies, and a federal investment to make new progress in gene sequencing.