Onco Actu du 22 mai 2017

	3.1 Tabac
Smokers will spend around £2000 a year on cigarettes as plain, standardised packs come into full force [Cancer Research UK] “Today marks a momentous victory in the battle for a tobacco free future. Standardised packs will help protect the next generation from an addiction that kills around two thirds of all long term smokers."
This is the end of tobacco advertising [Cancer Research UK] If the policy is effective at reducing smoking rates and demoralising the tobacco industry, then this needs to be proved. And if it is proved, that information needs to be shared with the world.
Cigarettes sold in plain green packs under new rules [BBC News] Scotland was the first part of the UK to back the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products. The country-wide move could lead to 300,000 fewer smokers in the UK over the next year, a major review has suggested.
	3.3 Prévention - Vaccins
Vaccine may reduce HPV infections that cause some oral cancers [Cancer Research UK] “The HPV vaccine has the potential to be one of the most significant cancer prevention tools ever developed, and it’s already reducing the world’s burden of cervical cancers.”
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
New imaging technique aims to ensure surgeons completely remove cancer [WUSTL] To speed up the process, the researchers took advantage of a phenomenon known as the photoacoustic effect. When a beam of light of the right wavelength hits a molecule, some of the energy is absorbed and then released as sound in the ultrasound range. These sound waves can be detected and used to create an image.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T
A father’s plea: The FDA needs to make sure that Juno’s lethal disaster isn’t repeated Now the father of one of those victims has joined in a petition from the Center for Responsible Science seeking some real transparency at the FDA on the way it handles patient deaths — with major implications for the people who participate in clinical trials.
	5.12.6 Immunothérapies - AMM
Merck’s checkpoint star Keytruda grabs another FDA OK, steering past wreckage of a Roche disaster [EndPoints] Those numbers underscore the promise for this field, as well as the need for combination therapies that can do much better. And Merck has hundreds of those underway now. Those combos will be telling as the PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint field continues to get more and more crowded.
	5.2 Pharma
XBiotech's worst fears come true as EMA rejects colorectal cancer drug [FierceBiotech] XBiotech is developing Xilonix, a monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1 alpha, to treat the debilitating symptoms seen in patients with advanced colorectal cancer, such as muscle wasting (cachexia).
European Medicines Agency Validates Application for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Sprycel (dasatinib) in Children with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia [BMS] Proposal extends application to the treatment of children and adolescents with chronic phase Philadelphia-chromosome positive chronic myelogenous leukemia and to the powder for oral suspension.
The EMA rejects XBiotech’s cancer drug after an embarrassing PhIII — but they’re not giving up [EndPoints] XBiotech had burned through about $194 million by the end of Q1. Its shares are down a little more than 10% this morning.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA, NICE...
FDA Oncology Center of Excellence Moves Forward on Coordinated Clinical Reviews, Integrated Approach to the Clinical Evaluation of Oncology Products [AJMC] An overview of the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence—a collaborative approach to the clinical approval process, by Richard Pazdur, MD.
Meeting highlights from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) 15-18 May 2017 [EMA] - The Committee recommended extension of indications for Zykadia. - The CHMP adopted a negative opinion for Adlumiz (anamorelin hydrochloride). Adlumiz was expected to be used to treat anorexia, cachexia or unintended weight loss in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. - The Committee adopted a negative opinion for Human IgG1 monoclonal antibody specific for human interleukin-1 alpha XBiotech. This medicine was intended to treat debilitating symptoms of advanced colorectal cancer.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA)
Novartis receives positive CHMP opinion for first-line use of Zykadia® in ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [Novartis] The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 16.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 12.6, 27.2) for patients receiving Zykadia compared to 8.1 months (95% CI: 5.8, 11.1) for patients in the chemotherapy arm of the study.
CHMP backs Novartis's Zykadia for first-line use in lung cancer [Reuters] Zykadia is vying with Roche's Alecensa to become a first-line treatment for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive lung cancer. Pfizer's Xalkori, with $561 million in 2016 sales, has approval in that setting.
	5.5.8 ASCO (poumon)
Targeted drug delays relapse of intermediate-stage lung cancer [Cancer Research UK] Patients in the trial were treated with gefitinib (Iressa), a drug that targets a faulty version of a molecule found on surface of some lung cancer cells called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). These patients experienced a longer time without their lung cancer coming back after surgery than patients who received standard treatment.
	6.1 Observation
One in Five Cancers Diagnosed in the United States Is a Rare Cancer [ACS] The report finds rare cancers account for more than two in three cancers occurring in children and adolescents. The authors say the proportion of rare cancers is likely to grow as the use of molecular markers to classify cancers increases.
	6.6 Publications
Forty-first Take: Boycott BioRχiv! [The Genome's Take] I have come to the view, perhaps with just a little hyperbole, that BioRχiv represents an existential threat to scientific veracity. Imperfect as peer review is, it is all that we have that protects the integrity of the scientific method, and now is the time to double down on protecting it.
Retractions in cancer research: a systematic survey [Research Integrity and Peer Review] Cancer retractions are largely due to academic misconduct. Consequences to cancer patients, the public at large, and the research community can be substantial and should be addressed with future research.