Onco Actu du 7 septembre 2016

	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Oesophageal cancer tests raise hopes for earlier detection [BBC News] The team from Cambridge, led by Dr Sarah Bohndiek, used a light-emitting dye that sticks to healthy oesophageal cells but not to pre-cancerous cells. Their work is published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics.
	4.10 Dép., diag. & prono. - Poumon
Patient and Provider Groups Urge Medicare Not to Undercut Lung Cancer Screening [ACR] CT lung cancer screening is a game changer in the battle against lung cancer. Slashing reimbursement by up to two-thirds before screening can be implemented in most American communities may be a death knell for many existing and planned screening programs nationwide.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Cancer 'smoke detector' test can spot the disease 10 years before symptoms appear [The Telegraph] The team is now carrying out a validation study to check that the test does not throw up too many false positives, or miss cancer. If successful it could be available within 10 years and could bring substantial savings to the NHS by preventing the need for costly chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
	5. Traitements
Gene-editing method shrinks cancer [BBC News] Crispr-Cas9 replaces harmful DNA with new code that kills cancerous cells while leaving healthy ones unharmed. Mice with the reprogrammed code developed tumours that were much smaller than cancers in mice that did not get this treatment.
Startup’s Artificial DNA Could Revolutionize Drug Design [MIT Technology Review] Synthorx, a biotech startup in La Jolla, California, is designing microbes with an expanded genetic alphabet containing six letters, adding the synthetic X and Y to the natural A, T, G, and C. These bacteria have no counterparts in nature, and Synthorx is using them to design novel proteins that hold promise as the basis for future painkillers, antibiotics, and cancer-targeting compounds.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
New drug 'wakes up' immune system to fight one of deadliest cancers [The Guardian] IMM-101 drug has extended lives of people with metastatic pancreatic cancer and appears to have no side-effects.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T
David Epstein: Industry should 'remain optimistic' on cell and gene therapy after Novartis cull [FierceBiotech] Epstein and former head of Novartis Oncology Hervé Hoppenot were pivotal in championing and nurturing the gene and cell therapy unit for the Swiss major. But after both men left the company (Hoppenot became the CEO of Incyte in 2014 while Epstein unexpectedly left a few months back), Novartis announced that it was to make major cuts to its internal unit dedicated to cell and gene therapy.
Novartis and CAR-T: What’s Going On? [In the Pipeline] Losing 120 positions, which is the report, does not sound like an orderly retreat.
	5.2 Pharma
Karyopharm Sees Quicker U.S. Approval Path for Multiple Myeloma Drug [The Street] Karyopharm announced study results in which its experimental drug selinexor demonstrated a 20% tumor response rate in multiple myeloma patients no longer responsive to four or five currently approved therapies.
Exelixis Announces Outcome from First Planned Interim Analysis of the Phase 3 CELESTIAL Trial of Cabozantinib in Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma [Exelixis] Following this interim analysis, which was scheduled to take place when 50 percent of the events for the primary endpoint of overall survival (OS) had occurred, the trial’s Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) determined that the study should continue without modifications per the study protocol.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Cancer Moonshot Should Benefit Pharma Companies, Investors [The Street] Merck, Roche and AstraZeneca are among the Big Pharma firms that could boost revenues through the development of cancer therapies.
Drug Industry Group Starts Ad Campaign to Push Back on Pricing [Bloomberg] The campaign, called “Innovation Saves,” says new drugs can save both lives and costs to the health-care system. BIO is spending “low- to mid-seven digits” on the ads, according Greenwood, or about $1 million to $5 million.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
NICE rejects Roche’s melanoma combo [PharmaTimes] The cost watchdog has now published final guidance rejecting use of Cotellic (cobimetinib) with Zelboraf (vemurafenib) for people with advanced BRAF V600 mutation-positive melanoma that has spread and can't be surgically removed, after concluding that it would not represent a cost-effective use of resources.
Eisai “cannot understand” German agency’s recommendation to reject Halaven [Pharmafile] Eisai has issued a statement to declare their “bewilderment” following a decision from the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), the equivalent of NICE in the UK, not to recommend Halaven (eribulin) versus established therapies for unresectable advanced or metastatic liposarcomas.
	5.5 ASCO
Early Palliative Care Improves Coping, Quality of Life for Patients With Incurable Cancers [ASCO] To explore the effects of early palliative care, researchers randomly assigned 350 patients, who had been recently diagnosed with incurable lung or non-colorectal gastrointestinal cancer, to receive early palliative care integrated with oncology care or oncology care alone.
Cancer Caregivers Experience Unique Burdens Compared With Those Caring for Patients With Other Conditions [ASCO] The analysis was based on survey data from the National Alliance for Caregiving, which estimates that there are 2.8 million caregivers providing care for an adult family member or friend with cancer.
“Mystery Shopper” Study Finds Barriers to Accessing Palliative Care Services at Major Cancer Centers [ASCO] The study showed that expanding awareness and education to patient-facing cancer center employees about such services could make an important difference. This study will be presented at the upcoming 2016 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium in San Francisco.
Family Caregivers for Patients With Advanced Cancer Often Experience High Levels of Anxiety, Depression [ASCO] A new multi-state survey shows that nearly one-quarter to one-third of family caregivers of patients with high-mortality cancers experience high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. The study also found that family caregivers can spend over eight hours per day providing care and that as this time increases, self-care behaviors such as sleep and exercise decline, a trend associated with poorer mental health.
	6.1 Observation
Obesity linked to improved survival in kidney cancer [Dana-Farber Cancer Institute] In one cohort of nearly 2,000 patients, the median overall survival of patients with high BMI (overweight or obese) was 25.6 months compared to 17.1 months for patients with low BMI. The mortality rate for the overweight cancer patients was 16 percent less over the course of the study, which began in 2003.
	6.10.1 Politiques (USA)
“Right to try” goes federal, thus far unsuccessfully [Respectful Insolence] For those unfamiliar with right-to-try, such bills claim to allow terminally ill (or, in some states, “seriously ill”) patients to bypass the FDA and receive potentially promising new experimental drugs that have passed phase I clinical trials and are still being tested in phase II or III clinical trials.
	6.6 Publications
Cancer researcher logs 5th retraction [Retraction Watch] The notice doesn’t specify which references were problematic, but the list includes three papers that are now retracted; all three include Scott Valastyan (the sole author of the newly retracted paper) as first author, and two list Robert Weinberg, his former supervisor and prominent cancer researcher, as last author.
Citation Metrics: A Primer on How (Not) to Normalize [PLOS Biology] Different citation metrics may offer complementary insights, but one should carefully consider the assumptions that underlie their calculation.
Why we have set publisher requirements [Wellcome] An analysis of the 2014-15 Charity Open Access Fund (COAF), which includes Wellcome funding, revealed that 30% of Wellcome and COAF member articles for which an article processing charge was paid didn't comply with our open access policies.
	6.7.3 DMP
Electronic health records ‘inflict enormous pain’ on doctors. It’ll take more than stopwatches to learn why [STAT] The more our country spends on traditional EHR software, the more time providers must spend on them, the more dissatisfied they become, the more frustrated patients feel, and the more expensive health care gets.
	6.9 Controverses
Pondering Miracles, Medical and Religious [NY Times] After the work was submitted, I asked the treating physician what was going on. She smiled and said that my report had been sent to the Vatican. This leukemia case was being considered as the final miracle in the dossier of Marie-Marguerite d’Youville, the founder of the Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal and a candidate to become the first Canadian-born saint.