Onco Actu du 27 avril 2017

	3.1 Tabac
Plain cigarette packaging could drive 300,000 Britons to quit smoking [The Guardian] The review found signs that more people were trying to quit smoking as a result of plain cartons, rising from 20.2% before to 26.6% after introduction.
UK plain cigarette pack law seen cutting number of smokers by 300,000 [Reuters] Based on observational evidence and a review of more than 50 experimental studies on the potential impact of plain packs, experts from the Cochrane Review said they appear to diminish the appeal of tobacco and help reduce smoking prevalence.
	3.1.1 Tabac - e-cigs
U.S. House bill would exempt e-cigarettes from tobacco regulations [Reuters] A bill expected this week in the U.S. House of Representatives would weaken a Food and Drug Administration rule governing e-cigarettes and represent a major victory for the $4.4 billion U.S. vaping industry.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Five years wisely: A look at Choosing Wisely’s effort to reduce unnecessary medical care [HealthNewsReview] There are signs of growing attention to overtreatment, perhaps best exemplified by Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference, holding its fifth annual conference this August in Quebec City.
	4.10 Dép., diag. & prono. - FDA, EMA, NICE,...
FDA issues warning letter to “holistic” practitioner offering thermography for breast cancer detection [Science-Based Medicine] Thermography for breast cancer detection is one of more than 65 products the FDA just announced it is going after for fraudulently claiming to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure cancer.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Blood tests track lung cancer gene changes, aiding treatment [STAT] To be clear: This kind of care is not available yet — the tests used in these studies are experimental and were customized in a lab to analyze the genes in each patient’s cancer. But the technology is advancing rapidly, and many companies are working on tests that can do this.
Experimental blood test could offer a glimpse of the future for doctors treating lung cancer [Cancer Research UK] This latest research forms part of Swanton’s pioneering study, TRACERx. The first of its kind, the study has set out to follow almost 850 patients with the most common type of lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, from diagnosis through treatment and beyond. So far, they’ve analysed the first 100 patients, the results of which were also published today.
Liquid-biopsies success highlights power of combining basic and clinical research [Nature] Using free-floating DNA to detect lung cancer brings benefits to researchers and patients alike.
'Exciting' blood test spots cancer a year early [BBC News] The research project was on lung cancer, but the processes studied are so fundamental that they should apply across all cancer types.
DNA-based test can spot cancer recurrence a year before conventional scans [The Guardian] In the latest trial, reported in the journal Nature, 100 patients with non-small cell lung cancer were followed from diagnosis through surgery and chemotherapy, having blood tests every six to eight weeks.
	4.2 Dép., diag. & prono. - Génome
Tracing genetic chaos in 100 lung cancer patients could help predict survival [Cancer Research UK] Headed by Professor Charles Swanton, from the Francis Crick Institute in London, this in-depth work has already given us the most detailed understanding to date of how genetic disarray can determine survival in some lung cancer patients. The results are published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and span the first 100 patients out of their 842 target.
	4.5 Dép., diag. & prono. - Colorectal
‘OK to wait’ or ‘Delay at your own risk?’ Headspinning headlines on same colonoscopy study [HealthNewsReview] Well-meaning stories that stoke fear may paradoxically make us sicker.
Ok to wait for colonoscopy after positive fecal test results [Reuters] For the study, researchers examined data on how long more than 70,000 patients with positive FIT results waited to get follow-up colonoscopies.
	5. Traitements
Cancer-causing DNA is found in some stem cells being used in patients [STAT] It’s been 18 years since scientists got stem cells from human embryos, launching the “regenerative medicine” revolution. No one noticed this before?
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
Whose Data Are They Anyway? Can a Patient Perspective Advance the Data-Sharing Debate? [NEJM] Patients expect that health care professionals and researchers use patient data in the best possible way. That there is a fight over what the best way is is perplexing and disappointing.
Bridging the Data-Sharing Divide — Seeing the Devil in the Details, Not the Other Camp [NEJM] On one side stand many clinical trialists, whose lifeblood — randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) — may be threatened by data sharing. On the other side stand data scientists — many of them hailing from the genetics community, whose sharing of data markedly accelerated progress in that field.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Roswell Park-Led Team Identifies Tumor Marker for Aggressive Ovarian Cancer [Roswell Park] Tumor antigen NY-ESO-1 underappreciated as immunotherapy target, scientists say.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T
Novartis confirms that Juliet CAR-T data out in June [FierceBiotech] “The program for ICML indicates that Novartis will present phase 2 interim data from the Juliet study in DLBCL on Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at the conference in Lugano, Switzerland.”
	5.12.3 Immunothérapies-combinaisons
Silently Affecting the Immune System? [In the Pipeline] What this suggests is that crizotinib might well be a valuable addition to several immuno-oncology therapies, and the same might go for some of the other compounds that showed similar profiles in the screen.
	5.2 Pharma
Way over budget and years late — AstraZeneca’s massive HQ project offers a troubling symbol [EndPoints] Soriot had to concede that the building — intended to symbolize the pharma giant’s embrace of the latest technologies and scientific insights on drug R&D — had also come to represent the company’s inability to stay on schedule with its turnaround plan.
AstraZeneca third-line lung cancer trial delayed by few months [Reuters] The Phase III ARCTIC study is testing whether durvalumab on its own or in combination with tremelimumab can increase overall survival or delay the time it takes for lung cancer to worsen, when given as a third-line treatment.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
The top 10 pharma R&D budgets in 2016 [FierceBiotech] On average last year, the top 10 Big Pharmas spent just over 17% of their top line on research, with GlaxoSmithKline spending the second least in percentage terms at 12.9%, and the least in absolute numbers at £3.62 billion ($4.49 billion).
Bristol-Myers beats Wall St estimates, helped by Cancer drug Opdivo [Reuters] Opdivo sales rose 60 percent in the quarter, while Eliquis and Yervoy sales rose 50 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
Novartis takes a $200M hit to write off a flop as execs spell out a cautious R&D strategy [EndPoints] With its top line locked into a holding pattern as its sales teams struggle to expand franchise revenue, Novartis has outlined its near-term R&D strategy, taking a $200 million hit to write off the disappointing heart drug serelaxin (RLX030) while looking beyond a decision later in the year on its pioneering CAR-T drug as it shoots for new FDA filings.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA, NICE...
Barcelona pitches ready-to-go home for EMA in iconic building, adds to calls for quick decision to minimize risk [FierceBiotech] Officials warned delays will increase the risks of the treacherous transition of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) away from London—and pitched Barcelona and its iconic Torre Agbar skyscraper as a ready-to-go answer to the problem.
FDA Takes Action Against Fraudulent Cancer Products [FDA Voice] These companies used slick ads, videos, and other sophisticated marketing techniques, including testimonials about miraculous outcomes.
FDA takes action against 14 companies for selling illegal cancer treatments [FDA] The products are marketed and sold without FDA approval, most commonly on websites and social media platforms.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Takeda’s Ninlaro rejected by NICE for multiple myeloma [PharmaTimes] Ninlaro (ixazomib) plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone is authorised to treat multiple myeloma in people who have had one or more previous therapies, but in clinical practice is likely to be used only for those who have had two or three previous therapies, according to the Institute.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Cold caps to fight hair loss from chemotherapy: Will the idea catch on here? [Georgia Health] The basic idea behind scalp cooling, regardless of the specific technology, is that the continual cooling helps constrict the blood vessels in the scalp and reduces blood flow to the hair follicles, hence limiting the effect of chemotherapy on the hair. The cooling also slows down the metabolism of hair follicle cells.
The NCRI partnership launches new five-year strategy to accelerate progress in cancer research [Cancer Research UK] The NCRI Partnership enables collaboration between 19 of the biggest funders of cancer research from the UK’s charity and government sectors. It facilitates more than 250 meetings per year, to bring together the right clinicians, scientists, research nurses, patient experts and other specialists to tackle the big issues facing cancer research.
	6.1 Observation
There’s more to emergency diagnoses than GPs ‘failing cancer patients’ [Cancer Research UK] The researchers say the findings don’t represent major failings by GPs because there are many factors at play, which makes diagnosing cancer in these cases incredibly difficult.
Pregnancy complications await childhood cancer survivors [Reuters] Female cancer survivors who got abdominal radiation are more than three times more likely to develop diabetes during pregnancy as their peers who received different tumor treatments, the study found. After radiation, these cancer survivors are also more than twice as likely to develop anemia during pregnancy.
	6.10.1 Politiques (USA)
ASCO Applauds California as First State to Consider Oncology Clinical Pathways Legislation [ASCO] We support the Oncology Clinical Pathway Act (AB 1107), and believe it is an important first step toward ensuring that, in California, oncology pathways will safeguard patient access to high-quality, high-value cancer care, including the opportunity to participate in clinical trials.
	6.11 Patients
The survivors: How an experimental treatment saved patients and changed medicine [STAT] This is a story of survivors — of patients who were expected to die more than two decades ago but didn’t. It was the summer of 1998, and Dr. Brian J. Druker was a few months into Phase 1, first-in-human trials of a promising compound that would later be known as Gleevec.
	6.12 Ethique
The Broad Institute is testing the limits of what ‘nonprofit’ means [STAT] These nonprofit-corporate partnerships raise questions about the extent to which taxpayers should subsidize tax-exempt biomedical research by nonprofits that retain the rights to license patents and appear willing to defend them in court.
	6.5 Médecines alternatives
The failure of the Texas Medical Board: Houston cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski is back in business [Respectful Insolence] Basically, by failing to revoke Stanislaw Burzynski’s medical license, the Texas Medical Board has once again utterly failed to protect the patients of the world from his cancer quackery.
	6.6 Publications
Mark Zuckerberg And Priscilla Chan's Philanthropy Backs Effort To Change Scientific Publishing [Forbes] “This means stable funding for what's probably the most important current experiment in biomedical publishing.”
A troubling new way to evade plagiarism detection software. (And how to tell if it’s been used.) [Rertraction Watch] In a recent paper in the International Journal of Educational Integrity, Rogerson and her co-author Grace McCarthy, also at Wollongong, describe what they’ve learned about these online paraphrasing tools, and the dangers they pose.
Reviewers are blinkered by bibliometrics [Nature] Our analysis of 15 years' worth of citation data suggests that common bibliometric measures relying on short-term windows undervalue risky research.
New services to support open research [BioMed Central] Today Springer Nature is introducing a new service intended to help researchers more easily share data and other files generated during their research.
BioRxiv preprint server gets cash boost from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative [Nature] Money will be used to develop open-source platform and help put articles in web-friendly formats.
	6.8 Communication
How hype can mislead cancer patients, families [CNN] Patients and families are bombarded with the news that the country is winning the war against cancer, buying into treatments that either don't work, cost a fortune or cause life-threatening side effects.
	6.9 Controverses
After protests, a fired cancer center director gets her job back [STAT] The battle was unusually intense, even by the standards of high academia, where political struggles are common but often unfold behind closed doors.
Cancer institute reinstates director after uproar from staff and funder [Science] Today’s announcement from University of Utah President David Pershing seeks to smooth a tense relationship between the semiautonomous center, its main philanthropic funder and the university that houses it.
University of Utah reinstates Beckerle as CEO and director of Huntsman Cancer Institute [The Cancer Letter] The remarkable turnaround comes eight days after the same leadership fired Beckerle—a highly regarded scientist who has led the cancer center since 2006—without justification other than that she serves at the pleasure of the senior vice president for health sciences.