Onco Actu du 13 juin 2017

	3.3 Prévention - Vaccins
Merck CEO: Gardasil plus pipeline equals big things ahead for vaccines [FiercePharma] To reinforce the point, Frazier pointed to Gardasil’s recent sales strength and a new cancer vaccines partnership with Moderna Therapeutics as evidence of Merck’s promise in vaccines.
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Talking to Patients About Cancer Screening Cessation [JAMA Internal Medicine] Why are patients resistant to hearing about life expectancy received in this context? It may be that it turns what would have previously been a discussion about maintaining health (“Let's check for cancer to keep you healthy.”) into an unexpected discussion about the end of life (“You don't need this colonoscopy because you have a greater than 50% chance of death in the next 5 years.”).
	4.1 Dép., diag. & prono. - Prostate
GPs leaving men with family history of prostate cancer 'blind' to the risks [The Telegraph] Men whose father or brothers suffered from the disease are 2.5 more likely to develop it, and should be monitored more closely.
	4.2 Dép., diag. & prono. - Génome
Testicular cancer: men most at risk could be identified using new gene group [Reuters] Screening men for the 19 new genes, along with 25 known already, would allow doctors to spot those who are 14 times more likely than usual to develop the cancer, the scientists said.
	4.7 Dép., diag. & prono. - Col de l'utérus
6 things you need to know about cervical screening [Cancer Research UK] While it does have some possible risks, the test prevents at least 2,000 cervical cancer deaths each year in the UK. It’s completely up to the individual whether to go or not. But the answers to these 6 questions could help you decide.
	5. Traitements
Already-promising cancer drug may have wider applicability [Dana-Farber Cancer Institute] The findings, published online today by the journal Nature, suggest that palbociclib could be uniquely effective in patients whose tumors carry elevated levels of D3-CDK6.
Antibiotics and vitamin C could kill cancer cells [NHS Choices] While this is encouraging news, it needs to be put into context. The experiments all took place in the laboratory. Researchers used human breast cancer stem cells, but didn't perform any studies on animals or humans.
Mini Particle Accelerators Make Cancer Treatment Safer for Everyone [Wired] US company Varian released a new model last month called the Halcyon with developing countries in mind. They’ve automated many steps in the linac’s operation.
	5.12.1 Immunothérapies - partenariats
Celgene bags option on NK cell-based blood cancer assets [FierceBiotech] The involvement of Celgene in a discovery-stage company that has largely eschewed traditional sources of investment in favor of cash from family offices is in line with its history of spotting and backing biotechs earlier than its peers.
Dragonfly, Tyler Jacks’s Disney-Backed Startup, Gets $33M in Celgene Deal [Xconomy] Through the agreement, Celgene gets the option to buy up to four experimental drugs from Dragonfly and develop them for acute myeloid leukemia, multiple myeloma, or other blood cancers.
Little Dragonfly bursts onto the I/O scene with a $33M Celgene deal and some of the biggest names in biotech [EndPoints] By linking onto NK (natural killer) cells and dragging them to a cancer cell, they think they have a better approach to tackling a wide range of cancers.
OSE Immunotherapeutics Announces Strategic Multi-Year Research Collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York [OSE] Focused on Company’s Cytotoxic Monoclonal Antibody OSE-703 targeting IL-7R to treat cancer.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T
New frontier in cancer care: Turning blood into living drugs [STAT] Now scientists are tackling a tougher next step, what Haining calls “the acid test”: Making T cells target far more common cancers — solid tumors like lung, breast or brain cancer.
CAR T Cells: Expanding into Multiple Myeloma [NCI] “The most important factor in deciding what antigen to target with a CAR is to pick one that is not expressed on essential normal tissues,” said Dr. Kochenderfer.
	5.12.3 Immunothérapies-combinaisons
Merck halts enrollment on two PhIII Keytruda combo studies as outside monitors flag a worrying rate of deaths [EndPoints] Keytruda isn’t just Merck’s biggest drug in the pipeline. It represents a pipeline of its own for R&D chief Roger Perlmutter, with dozens of combination studies underway as the pharma giant hurries to expand its use.
In a Myeloma Setback, Merck Halts Studies Due to Patient Deaths [Xconomy] The news offers a fresh reminder of the unknowns and potential safety perils of combining immunotherapy drugs with other treatments to expand their reach.
Merck Provides Update on Multiple Myeloma Studies KEYNOTE-183 and 185 of KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in Combination with Other Therapies [Merck] Merck has accepted the external Data Monitoring Committee recommendation to pause new enrollment on KEYNOTE-183 and KEYNOTE-185.
Merck to pause two late-stage studies testing Keytruda in myeloma [Reuters] Merck & Co said it paused enrolments in two late-stage studies testing its immunotherapy drug, Keytruda, for multiple myeloma, in combination with other therapies, as the U.S. drugmaker looks to better understand more reports of death in the Keytruda groups.
	5.2 Pharma
Acceleron scraps dalantercept after it flunks a PhII test for kidney cancer [EndPoints] Not only was their no significant improvement in progression-free survival for their drug combined with axitinib, versus the standard of care alone, the confirmed objective response rate was a little lower for Acceleron’s drug — 19% compared to 25% for the control arm.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Amgen loses its bid to delay biosimilars as SCOTUS hands Novartis a victory [EndPoints] That marked a clear win for Sandoz, the big Novartis generics unit which is fielding a full slate of these copycat biologics. The group is launching a knockoff of Amgen’s Neupogen, and in the process helped speed the arrival of a fresh wave of biosimilars hitting US market shores.
Supreme Court speeds copycat biologic drugs to market [Reuters] The decision has major implications for the pharmaceutical industry because it will dictate how long brand-name makers of biologic drugs can keep near-copies, called biosimilars, off the market.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
NICE backs Lartruvo for soft tissue sarcoma [PharmaTimes] The Final Appraisal Determination was published one month earlier than expected, and is one of the first medicines to be made available within the new Cancer Drugs Fund, as well as the first monoclonal antibody to be recommended in combination with doxorubicin to treat the condition, Lilly noted.
	6.10.1 Politiques (USA)
Dr. Norman Sharpless Brings Proven Scientific Leadership to the National Cancer Institute [ASCO] Under Dr. Sharpless' leadership, NCI will be tasked with delivering on the promise of precision medicine and the recently funded Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot, for which the first of seven years of scheduled funding has been provided.
	6.6 Publications
Empty rhetoric over data sharing slows science [Nature] Governments, funders and scientific communities must move beyond lip-service and commit to data-sharing practices and platforms.
	6.9 Controverses
Richard Smith: Is evidence based medicine a form of microfascism? [BMJ] The idea that evidence based medicine is a state tool for cutting health funding is plainly wrong when the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) of England and Wales, which uses the methods of evidence based medicine, advocates many expensive treatments that the NHS cannot afford to introduce.
Conflicts of interest in health care journalism. Who’s watching the watchdogs? We are. Part 1 of 3 [HealthNewsReview] I’m raising the same types of questions that journalists often raise as they report on various issues. But I’m asking them because I don’t see enough journalists talking about it when their own organizations accept industry money.