Onco Actu du 3 avril 2018

	1. Biologie
CRISPR paper that sent stocks tumbling is retracted [STAT] The paper, published last year in Nature Methods, claimed that CRISPR wreaked havoc on the genome, causing hundreds of unintended mutations in mice — and that the algorithms typically used to detect these changes were routinely missing them.
The “interstitium”: Interesting science versus PR spin and pseudoscience [Respectful Insolence] Unfortunately, thanks to an overeager PR department at NYU, coupled with investigators who mistakenly believe that acupuncture works and have been willing to shoehorn their discovery into the narrative promoted by quacks, I foresee a whole lot of “interstitium” quackery and use of Theise’s and Wells’ discovery by quacks to “explain” their quackery coming.
Metastatic Knowledge [The Scientist] The research enterprise surrounding cancer spreads and changes as it explores multiple facets of the complex disease.
	1.1 Biologie - Gènes
Scientists uncover “long tail” of nearly 100 genes mutated in prostate cancer [Broad Institute] By studying the largest collection yet of prostate cancer samples to be analyzed genomically, researchers have identified genes never before linked to prostate tumors, and started to see patterns that tell localized tumors from metastatic ones.
	2.4 Etiologie - Portables, ondes e-m
The Nation indulges in fear mongering about cell phones and cancer [Science-Based Medicine] To produce this narrative, the investigation’s authors rely on unreliable sources and cherry pick scientific studies, ignoring the scientific consensus that cell phone radiation almost certainly doesn’t cause cancer, all the while disingenuously claiming that they aren’t taking a position on the health effects of radio waves.
Cell phones and cancer: random chance in clinical trials [Science-Based Medicine] There is, however, another more mathematical reason to be skeptical of the NTP results. The NTP study is a vast undertaking and the current reports are over 650 pages long for both rats and mice. But that vastness is its Achilles heel. They present dozens upon dozens of analyses, and if you do enough analyses you will eventually get a positive result simply due to the play of chance.
	3.1.1 Prévention - Tabac - e-cigs
Devices to Quit Smoking Become the Devices Teenagers Can’t Quit [NY Times] “With cigarettes, we’ve been studying them for many years, we have a pretty good idea of what the risks are. We just don’t know what the risks of inhaling all these flavorings and dyes are, and what we do know is already pretty scary.”
	3.3 Prévention - Vaccins
HPV vaccine coverage on the rise, but still far from 2020 goal [Reuters] Among 9- to 26-year-old males, 27 percent had received at least one dose of the vaccine in 2016, compared to 8 percent in 2011. Vaccination rates rose from 38 percent to 46 percent in girls and women over the same time period, according to the results published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Call to extend HPV vaccine to boys as cancer rates soar [The Guardian] Doctors say new figures, to be released in a few weeks, will show that rates of head and neck cancers in men are now rising so quickly that it is imperative the policy is reversed.
	3.8 Prévention - Alimentation
Go ahead and drink your coffee, public health experts say [LA Times] "I can understand the logic of the judge, by going by the book. But I can also understand the science," said Mariana Carla Stern, a USC professor who studies diet and cancer. "From the science standpoint, there's no reason the public should worry about drinking coffee."
Give up coffee? Fuggedaboutit, say New Yorkers after California ruling [The Guardian] One common complaint among caffeine-loving New Yorkers on Friday was that they were sick of the ever-changing buffet of health-related coffee news.
	4.10 Dép., diag. & prono. - Poumon
Robots Could Replace Surgeons in the Battle Against Cancer [Bloomberg] Fred Moll started a $50 billion robotics company. Now he has FDA approval for a device a doctor sends into the lungs to detect cancer. His ultimate goal: Have the robot drive itself.
	4.5 Dép., diag. & prono. - Colorectal
Andrew Lansley calls for better NHS screening after revealing bowel cancer [The Guardian] Ex-Tory health secretary admits cuts and staff shortages slowed roll-out of bowel cancer checks.
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
NCI Launches New Resource for Specimens and Data from Cancer Clinical Trials [NCI] Known as NCTN Navigator, the resource includes information about specimens, such as tumor and blood samples, donated by patients in NCI-sponsored clinical trials. The clinical trials included in Navigator are published phase 3 studies that evaluated cancer treatments.
	5.12.1 Immunothérapies - partenariats
AstraZeneca, Compugen sign immuno-oncology deal [FierceBiotech] Further details of the program licensed by AstraZeneca have yet to emerge but Compugen’s activity in recent years provides some clues. Compugen sought to ride the immuno-oncology wave by working on 11 novel immune checkpoint targets and a similar number involving antibody-drug conjugates or tumor-associated macrophages.
AZ signs up for access to Compugen’s pipeline [PharmaTimes] AstraZeneca’s MedImmune has inked a deal with Israeli group Compugen giving it access to the firm’s experimental bi- and multi-specific antibody products.
	5.12.5 Immunothérapies - Pharma
Dendreon chairwoman figures Provenge growth, infrastructure can pave its way into CAR-T [FiercePharma] About a year after taking in Dendreon from debt-laden Valeant for $820 million, Chinese conglomerate Sanpower is pushing for its expansion agenda.
	5.2 Pharma
The European Medicines Agency accepts regulatory submission for Lynparza in BRCA-mutated HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer [AstraZeneca] If approved, AstraZeneca and MSD’s Lynparza would be the first PARP inhibitor to treat patients with breast cancer in Europe.
US FDA accepts Biologics License Application for moxetumomab pasudotox in hairy cell leukaemia [AstraZeneca] Moxetumomab pasudotox (formerly CAT-8015 or HA22) is an investigational anti-CD22 recombinant immunotoxin and a potential new medicine with the opportunity to be a first-in-class treatment in the US for patients with relapsed or refractory HCL who have received at least two prior lines of therapy.
In salvage effort, Sellas cherry picks some positive mid-stage cancer vaccine data [EndPoints] Through a spokesperson, Sellas’ CEO Angelos Stergiou refused to tell me what the p value of the primary endpoint in its study was, preferring to highlight a clinical benefit for NeuVax in prolonging disease-free survival when combined with Herceptin in treating a group of breast cancer patients with triple-negative breast cancer.
In sudden revamp, Celgene CEO Alles bids his COO goodbye and looks to regain confidence with management shuffle [EndPoints] The management revamp will leave Alles in charge of everything from clinical development to regulatory, the all-important hematology and oncology franchise as well as inflammation and immunology.
EMA to review cemiplimab as a potential treatment for advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma [Sanofi] The MAA for cemiplimab is based on a Phase 2 pivotal, single-arm, open-label clinical trial of cemiplimab for advanced CSCC (EMPOWER-CSCC 1) in addition to Phase 1 data from two advanced CSCC expansion cohorts.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA, NICE...
Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on FDA’s efforts to enhance the patient perspective and experience in drug development and review [FDA] A 45-year-old father of two who is diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer may have very different goals than an 80-year-old man diagnosed with the same disease.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
Will Blincyto's Expanded FDA Approval Open the Door for Wider Use of MRD as a Biomarker or Endpoint? [RAPS] The decision represents the first time FDA has used MRD as a biomarker for a regulatory decision, as the pivotal trial for the approval used a molecular assay for MRD to select patients for the study and to assess the response to therapy with blinatumomab.
How long are delays in cancer drug approvals outside the U.S.? [Healthcare Economist] In short, if you live in Europe, you will have access to oncology treamtents 1 year after the U.S., but if you live in Canada or Australia, then it will be about 2 years before you get access to new oncology treatments.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Senators launch probe into why price of cancer drug increased 1400 percent [The Hill] Lomustine, which has no generic competition, cost $50 for a capsule with the highest dose in 2013. Now a capsule with the same dose costs $768.
Opinion on Innovative payment models for high-cost innovative medicines [European Commission] The recognition that the current path of growth cannot be continued indefinitely leads to the search of new ways to ensure that innovation “that matters” is produced, that patients have access to innovation and that health systems are financially sustainable.
	6.1 Observation
Declines in Lung Cancer Death Rates Among U.S. Women Have Lagged in Two Hot Spots [AACR] Ross and her colleagues found that from 1990-1999 to 2006-2015, lung cancer death rates among women rose by 13 percent in a hot spot encompassing 669 counties in 21 states in central Appalachia and southern parts of the Midwest.
NHS trusts cancelled hundreds of cancer procedures over winter [The Guardian] Hospitals across England were instructed to delay pre-planned operations and routine outpatient appointments throughout January due to severe winter pressures. At the time, NHS England said cancer operations and time-critical procedures were exempt and should go ahead as planned. However, the HSJ survey found 43 trusts cancelled operations, including some diagnostic procedures such as biopsies.
	6.11 Patients
‘I was a caricature of my worst traits’ – how brain cancer can affect the mind [The Guardian] Dr Barbara Lipska was working at her computer one morning in January 2015 when her right hand suddenly disappeared. Having spent her 40-year career studying the human brain, she immediately knew just how bad this was. The neuroscientist was aware that the most likely explanation was a tumour in the area of her brain governing vision.
	6.5 Médecines alternatives
The deadly false hope of German alternative cancer clinics, part 3: Hallwang Clinic revisited [Respectful Insolence] Why and how do these clinics continue to exist and profit in Germany? How is it that they can peddle unproven and quack treatments, charge upwards of six figures for them, and not face any sort of regulatory sanction?
	6.6 Publications
Cancer researcher at The Ohio State University resigns following multiple misconduct findings [Science] The investigation also prompted OSU to temporarily shut down research involving a compound developed by Chen; a phase Ib trial was suspended in June 2017.
Ohio State just released a 75-page report finding misconduct by a cancer researcher. What can we learn? [Retraction Watch] Chen had earned more than $8 million in Federal grants, and his work had led to a compound now being testing in clinical trials for cancer.
French Universities Cancel Subscriptions to Springer Journals [The Scientist] Negotiations between the publisher and a national consortium of academic institutions have reached a stalemate.
	6.7.1 IA/bioinformatique
Emmanuel Macron wants France to become a leader in AI and avoid ‘dystopia’ [Science] To avoid misuse of artificial intelligence, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed setting up a panel akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Emmanuel Macron Talks to WIRED About France's AI Strategy [Wired] Directly after his talk, he gave an exclusive and extensive interview, entirely in English, to WIRED Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson about the topic and why he has come to care so passionately about it.