Onco Actu du 8 février 2017

	3.1.1 Tabac - e-cigs
Long-term vaping 'far safer than smoking' says 'landmark' study [NHS Choices] The findings of this study do appear to reassure that use of e-cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapy – while continuing to provide nicotine – can reduce exposure to toxic chemicals that can lead to cancer in cigarette smokers. However, this is only if you completely stop smoking – using e-cigarettes or NRT while continuing to smoke won’t help.
E-cigarettes act as gateway to smoking for teens, scientists warn [The Telegraph] Professor Miech warns that teenagers who vape may begin to believe that smoking is not dangerous if they do not detect any immediate health effects from vaping. They are also more likely to join a peer groups of smokers.
Plain Old Vaping Gives Way to ‘Dripping’ Among Teenagers, Study Says [NY Times] Teenagers have found a new way to worry their parents. Never mind plain old vaping — now, it’s all about dripping. The term refers to the practice of applying nicotine liquid directly to the heated coils of an e-cigarette or other vaporizer to produce thick clouds of nicotine vapor.
	3.3 Prévention - Vaccins
Merck's Gardasil faces 'negative impact' of HPV schedule change: exec [FiercePharma] Following the CDC’s decision to implement a two-dose HPV vaccination schedule, Merck EVP of Global Human Health Adam Schechter said on the company’s conference call that Merck is expecting a “rapid transition” to the new regimen. That, he said, will “have a negative impact on sales in the U.S.” for Gardasil.
American Cancer Society: 2 HPV Shots Instead of 3 OK for Ages 9-14 [ACS] The ACS based its decision on a review of published and unpublished data from clinical trials, which showed that 2 doses protected boys and girls ages 9 to 14 from HPV infection. The review article was published February 7 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
Too few U.S. teens getting flu and cancer vaccines [Reuters] Under 2017 changes to U.S. vaccine recommendations released this week, children may receive the HPV vaccine starting at age 9 and they may only need two doses. If they start getting the HPV shots at age 15 or older, teens will still need three doses.
	4.2 Dép., diag. & prono. - Génome
Physicians fail to recommend genetic testing to many high-risk breast cancer patients [Stanford Medicine] Kurian and her colleagues surveyed 2,529 women with stage-0 to stage-2 breast cancer two months after surgery. The women were asked whether they wanted genetic testing and, if so, whether they had received it.
Women With Breast Cancer Miss Out On Recommended Genetic Testing [NPR] When asked why they didn't get tested, the majority of the 773 high-risk patients said it was because their doctor didn't recommend it to them.
Twenty Years Later, And We Still Don’t Routinely Offer BRCA Test To Women At High Risk For Breast Cancer [Dr Len's Blog] I guess sometimes it takes a long time for the way we care for our patients to catch up with the science that we know works. But twenty years??? Uh, that seems like a long, long time.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Scientists discover why some cancers may not respond to immunotherapy [UCLA] UCLA scientists have discovered that people with cancers containing genetic mutations JAK1 or JAK2, which are known to prevent tumors from recognizing or receiving signals from T cells to stop growing, will have little or no benefit from the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab. This early-stage research has allowed them to determine for the first time why some people with advanced melanoma or advanced colon cancer will not respond to pembrolizumab, an anti-PD-1 treatment.
	5.12.1 Immunothérapies - partenariats
Cancer Research Technology, UCL, and Tusk Therapeutics join forces to develop cancer immunotherapies [Cancer Research UK] Under the terms of the agreement, Tusk Therapeutics will receive an exclusive world-wide licence from CRT to develop and commercialise therapeutic antibodies against the target, originating from the Cancer Research UK-funded research of Dr Sergio Quezada and Professor Karl Peggs at UCL.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T
Cellectis Gains FDA Nod to Test New Gene-Edited Cancer Treatment [The Street] The Paris-based biotech received an Investigational New Drug, or IND, approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday to conduct phase I clinical trials with UCART123, the biotech's gene-edited product candidate, in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, and blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm, or BPDCN.
	5.12.5 Immunothérapies - Pharma
MSD aims to get the jump on BMS treating bladder cancer [Pharmafile] Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo was only just approved for second-line treatment of bladder cancer, but MSD has attempted to have its own drug, Keytruda, leapfrog them with by having it accepted for priority review in both first and second-line treatments.
Europe Cancer Immunotherapy Market Report 2017 [ReportsnReports] This report studies sales (consumption) of Cancer Immunotherapy in Europe market, especially in Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy, Spain and Benelux, focuses on top players in these countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these Countries.
	5.2 Pharma
Nanobiotix appoints Oncology industry veteran as Chief Operating Officer [European Pharmaceutical Review] Prior to joining Nanobiotix, Mr Dostie served as the Oncology General Manager at Novartis Pharma GmbH in Germany, where he managed a team of several hundred of people and was responsible for more than $1 billion in sales.
GW Pharma’s cannabis-derived combo med helps brain cancer patients [FierceBiotech] “We believe that the signals of efficacy demonstrated in this study further reinforce the potential role of cannabinoids in the field of oncology and provide GW with the prospect of a new and distinct cannabinoid product candidate in the treatment of glioma,” said Justin Gover, GW’s CEO.
FDA lifts clinical hold on Northwest Bio cancer vax trial [FierceBiotech] Northwest Bio thinks it will take several months for the trial to reach the overall survival threshold, and that the routine checks and cleaning that are performed before the database is closed will be “a multi-month process.” As such, it is unclear when Northwest Bio will present data from the trial.
GW Pharmaceuticals Achieves Positive Results in Phase 2 Proof of Concept Study in Glioma [GW Pharmaceuticals] The study showed that patients with documented recurrent GBM treated with THC:CBD had an 83 percent one year survival rate compared with 53 percent for patients in the placebo cohort (p=0.042).
	6.10.1 Politiques (USA)
Biotech leaders take on Trump’s immigration ban, warn of mounting harm [FierceBiotech] There has been a lot of bullish optimism that Trump could help boost biopharma M&A this year with a promise to lower regulation, and speed up approvals at the FDA, as well as unlocking overseas cash and a general focus on promoting business, but his immigration policies may just be taking the edge of the so-called Trump bump in stocks.
Biotechnology Executives Oppose Trump Immigration Policy [Forbes] The letter notes that one study showed that 52% of the 69,000 biomedical researchers in the United States were foreign-born. And then it goes further, warning that the policy could deeply damage U.S. leadership in the development of new medicines.
	6.8 Communication
It’s time for journalists to stop using the word ‘controversial’ to describe medical science [HealthNewsReview] This ProPublica/NPR story published last week about congressional attacks on evidence-based recommendations from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force provides illuminating context without using the label “controversial.”
	6.9 Controverses
Dispute over the legal rights to an anticancer agent continues [C&EN] In 2014, Kim Janda of Scripps Research Institute California discovered that ONC201, a drug candidate under development at Oncoceutics, had been patented with an incorrect chemical structure. Scripps applied for a new patent on the compound with the correct structure and licensed it to another company, Sorrento Therapeutics.