Onco Actu du 16 juin 2017

	1. Biologie
Understanding Premalignancy and Cancer Risk [Cancer research Catalyst] To help decode cancer before it starts, some researchers suggest the need for an initiative as large as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), which provided a map of key genomic changes in 33 types of cancer. Efforts to study premalignancy, however, would call for far more coordination than the TCGA needed, since it would require not only analyzing tissue samples, but also understanding outside factors such as immune system function.
TCGA study of liver cancer reveals potential targets for therapy [NCI] The analysis was published in Cell on June 15, 2017.
Swedish Study Rules 20 Years of Cancer Research Futile [Labiotech] The role of the ERβ receptor in breast cancer has been debated for 20 years. Now, a new study suggests that researchers have analyzed the wrong protein.
	3.1 Tabac
Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on the 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey results [FDA] Another pillar of our efforts is to make sure retailers understand and take seriously their responsibility of keeping harmful and addictive tobacco products out of the hands of children.
Teens' Use Of E-Cigarettes Drops For The First Time, CDC Says [NPR] King attributed the drop in e-cigarette use to a variety of factors, including high-profile public education campaigns about the potential dangers of e-cigarettes. New restrictions on sales to minors also probably played a role, he says.
U.S. youth tobacco use in 2016 fell by largest amount in 6 years [Reuters] President Donald Trump's proposed 2018 budget includes a nearly 20 percent drop in the CDC's disease prevention and health promotion programs, including eliminating dedicated funding for its Office on Smoking and Health.
Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2011–2016 [MMWR-CDC] Decreases in cigarette and cigar use during 2011–2016 were offset by increases in hookah and e-cigarette use, resulting in no significant change in any tobacco use.
	3.1.1 Tabac - e-cigs
No longer the hot new thing? Teen vaping falls, study says [STAT] It’s the first decline the CDC has reported in teen vaping since the agency began tracking it in 2011. The findings echo a recent University of Michigan survey, which also detected a decline in 2016.
Electronic Cigarettes as an Introductory Tobacco Product Among Eighth and 11th Grade Tobacco Users — Oregon, 2015 [MMWR-CDC] The report notes that action can be taken at the national, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels to address e-cigarette use among youths and young adults.
One third of U.S. adults don’t know e-cigarette vapor may harm kids [Reuters] Some previous research suggests vapor from e-cigarettes may be less toxic than traditional cigarette smoke, but the electronic alternatives still release chemicals that aren’t normally in the air and the long-term health effects of the ingredients and flavorings in e-cigarettes are unclear.
	3.3 Prévention - Vaccins
Americans should be more afraid of HPV [Vox] If he had had the chance to avoid that pain with a vaccine, he would have happily taken it. Refusing a cancer-preventing shot, he says, “is lunacy.”
	4. Dépistage, diagnostic et pronostic
Snapshots of Life: A Van Gogh Moment for Pancreatic Cancer [NIH Director's Blog] Together, they paint a fascinating new portrait of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the most common form of pancreatic cancer.
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
Advocating for a Return to Common Sense in Clinical Research [ASH Clinical News] Today, the question of interest is no longer whether clinical research should continue on its path of administrative absurdity, but how to stop this madness without harming the quality of scientific data.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Tumor PD-L2 Expression May Predict Patient Response to Anti-PD-1 Immunotherapy [AACR] Limitations of the study include that the data obtained using the new assay was not compared with other standard detection and scoring methods, and a cutoff for PD-L2 expression levels associated with positive clinical response was not established, as this was an exploratory study.
	5.12.3 Immunothérapies-combinaisons
Seattle Genetics and Bristol-Myers Squibb Highlight Interim Phase 1/2 Data Evaluating Combination of ADCETRIS® (Brentuximab Vedotin) and Opdivo® (Nivolumab) in Relapsed Hodgkin Lymphoma at the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma [BMS] Combination Data Show 85 Percent Objective Response Rate and 63 Percent Complete Response Rate with an Acceptable Safety Profile in these Pre-Transplant Relapsed or Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients.
	5.2 Pharma
Epizyme Reports Positive Interim Data from Phase 2 Trial for Tazemetostat in Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Lymphoma and DLBCL Patients [Epizyme] The subset of FL patients with EZH2 activating mutations have a 92 percent objective response rate (ORR).
Epizyme's Positive Cancer Drug Results Likely to Catch the Eye of Celgene, J&J [The Street] Cambridge, Mass.-based Epizyme on June 14 reported positive interim efficacy data from phase 2 clinical trials of Tazemetostat, an EZH2 oral inhibitor. Mutations and over-expression of the EZH2 gene is linked to many forms of cancer, but inhibiting the gene may slow tumor growth.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
Checkmate Pharma Clinches $27M for More Studies in Skin Cancer [Xconomy] Checkmate’s lead drug, CMP-001, is an oligonucleotide, a type of drug that interrupts the cellular mechanisms involved in gene expression. The Checkmate drug is packaged within a virus-like particle, which is supposed to trick the immune system into mobilizing to fight tumors.
Pharma companies fight behind-the-scenes wars over generic drugs [STAT] The temptation to avoid generic competition can be overpowering. Delaying generic competition for as little as six months can be worth half a billion dollars in sales for a blockbuster drug.
Art Krieg comes down from the mountain with a $27M round for Checkmate Pharmaceuticals [EndPoints] The $27 million sets Checkmate up for the next 18 months, says the CEO. That will get them well past the point of entering an expansion phase of the study, with plans to bring in about 100 more patients and start to better gauge the impact of their drug — which activates toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) — in driving a T cell response to cancer cells.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Cost of Cancer Drugs Expected to Rise by Between 6 and 9 Percent [ASH Clinical News] The report attributes the anticipated growth in spending and prices to the availability of new cancer drugs.
Final NICE nod for Takeda’s Adcetris in Hodgkin’s lymphoma [PharmaTimes] Final guidance published by the cost regulator says Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) can be considered an option to treat CD30‑positive Hodgkin lymphoma in adults, but only if they have relapsed or refractory disease after autologous stem cell transplant and the company provides the drug at the price agreed with NHS England in the commercial access agreement.
Kadcyla new deal for breast cancer patients given green light in final draft guidance [NICE] Alongside the offer from Roche to reduce the cost to the NHS, another important factor in the decision to recommend the drug was the committee’s agreement that it was appropriate to compare Kadcyla with Herceptin plus capecitabine.
'Monumental U-turn' on cancer drug [BBC News] It is the result of a confidential deal between the health service and the drug company Roche. Kadcyla, the undiscounted cost of which had been £90,000 per patient, adds an average of six months of life to women with a form of terminal breast cancer.
Breast cancer drug that can extend lives approved for NHS use [The Guardian] Details of the price agreed between Roche and the NHS are being kept confidential. Kadycla is for people with Her2+ breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and cannot be removed through surgery. Previous treatments, usually Herceptin, must have failed for patients to receive the drug.
UK will pay for Roche breast cancer drug at center of price row [Reuters] The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said it could now recommend funding for Kadcyla, following the new commercial access arrangement with Roche. Details of the discount offer were not disclosed.
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Cancer's Big Infrastructure Problem [Forbes] This is not a new problem. In 2011, the oncologist George Sledge, then the outgoing president of ASCO, gave a talk in which he talked about the need to create an infrastructure to make targeted cancer drugs tractable. That infrastructure still does not exist, despite all the talk of cancer moonshots.
	6.1 Observation
Are Rare Cancers on the Rise? [HealthLine] One in 5 U.S. cases are deemed rare, but that doesn't mean cancer is getting ahead of us — it could mean the exact opposite.
	6.3 Associations/Fondations
LifeArc, née MRC Technology, sets up high-risk seed fund [Xconomy] “We will generally be looking to fund in the early preclinical stage,” Andrew Farquharson, director of technology transfer at LifeArc, said.
Rebranded UK charity to stream £500m into medical research [PharmaTimes] The charity, which evolved from the Medical Research Council, plans to build on its collaboration model by setting up ‘Communities for Impact’, networks that will will bring together the partners best placed to drive forward medical innovation in specific therapeutic and diagnostic areas.
Keytruda bonanza inspires a facelift and plans to invest more than $600M in translational research [EndPoints] The cash stream from Merck has been swelling as the pharma giant has rushed to stake out a leading role in the PD-(L)1 field, jumping ahead of Bristol-Myers Squibb — at least for the moment — in key areas like lung cancer.
	6.4 Médico-éco
NICE to work with partners on developing new ways to measure quality of life across health and social care [NICE] NICE is taking part in a project that will examine how quality of life measures used to evaluate healthcare treatments such as drugs can be extended into areas of social care and public health.
	6.6 Publications
Meet PubPeer 2.0: New version of post-publication peer review site launches today [Retraction Watch] The site is today launching new features that will make it impossible for the site to reveal users’ identities, as well as easier to read and format comments.
	6.7.2 Applis
Fostering Medical Innovation: A Plan for Digital Health Devices [FDA Voice] According to one estimate, last year there were 165,000 health-related apps available for Apple or Android smartphones.