Onco Actu du 12 juin 2018

	1.4 Biologie - Technos
Gene editing stocks get bushwhacked as new studies highlight CRISPR/Cas9 cancer risks [EndPoints] CRISPR shares were down 13% Monday afternoon, Intellia was off 9% and Editas shed 10% of its value.
Gene editing tool may raise cancer risk in cells, scientists warn [Reuters] “Although we don’t yet understand the mechanisms ... we believe that researchers need to be aware of the potential risks when developing new treatments,” Taipale said in a statement as the work was published. “This is why we decided to publish our findings as soon as we discovered that cells edited with CRISPR-Cas9 can go on to become cancerous.”
A serious new hurdle for CRISPR: Edited cells might cause cancer, find two studies [STAT] In the studies, published in Nature Medicine, scientists found that cells whose genomes are successfully edited by CRISPR-Cas9 have the potential to seed tumors inside a patient. That could make some CRISPR’d cells ticking time bombs, according to researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and, separately, Novartis.
	4.1 Dép., diag. & prono. - Prostate
Testing for 63 gene variants identifies elevated risk for prostate cancer [FierceBiotech] The researchers, who were partly funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), analyzed DNA from 80,000 men with prostate cancer and 61,000 healthy men. They used a type of gene-analysis technology called OncoArray to scrutinize single-letter changes in the DNA of those men.
Men left in danger because they do not know prostate cancer runs in families [The Telegraph] Having a father or brother who has had prostate cancer increases a man’s risk by two and a half times compared to a man with no family history, while having a grandfather or uncle with the disease increases the risk one by one and a half times.
Trials begin of a saliva test for prostate cancer [The Guardian] Researchers created the test after a major study into the genetics of prostate cancer found 63 new gene variants linked to the disease. The new test combines these with more than 100 DNA markers that were already known from previous work.
Prostate cancer DNA test identifies men with six-fold increased risk [Institute of Cancer Research] The test identifies 1 per cent of men who are at highest risk because they have inherited many of these risky variants – and they are nearly six times more likely to develop prostate cancer than the population average.
	4.12 Biopsies liquides
Pathologists predicted the Theranos debacle, but their voices were missing from most news coverage [HealthNewsReview] Theranos will soon be yesterday’s news, but the promise of easier testing still holds immense appeal. Stories about liquid biopsies – blood-based tests for cancer – continue to appear in the news and continue to be misreported. If journalists writing these stories consulted pathologists, they could help readers understand why such tests are a long way off.
	4.2 Dép., diag. & prono. - Génome
A Science Writer Explores The 'Perversions And Potential' Of Genetic Tests [NPR] As it turned out, the counselor told Zimmer he has a "boring genome." Though Zimmer initially hoped for a more "exciting and exotic" assessment, the counselor reminded him "A boring genome is a really good genome."
	5.1 Traitements - Pré-clinique
A faster way to spot the tell-tale signs of cancer-causing drugs [European Commission] An EU- and industry-funded project has identified potential biomarkers that could indicate how likely a drug is to cause cancer at an earlier stage of testing than is currently possible, which could save drug companies time and money - and lead to safer drugs reaching patients faster.
	5.12 Immunothérapies
Metastatic Breast Cancer and the Apparent Triumph of Immunotherapy: Thoughts from a Patient [Katherine O'Brien] Do you remember the late 1980s--a time when high dose chemotherapy followed by bone marrow transplantation was all the rage for people with metastatic breast cancer? More than 20,000 US women had this treatment--and many died because of it. Why isn't this treatment used today? Because ultimately the insurance companies insisted clinical trials be conducted--and those trials found the treatment was ineffective.
	5.12.7 Immunothérapies - vaccins
Cancer Research UK tests first of its kind vaccine to treat lung cancer [Cancer Research UK] Cancer Research UK will manage the initial clinical development of AST-VAC2, a promising immunotherapy candidate derived from a standardised human embryonic stem cell line, which was brought to the charity through its Clinical Development Partnerships (CDP) scheme.
	5.2 Pharma
FDA Approves Addition Of Positive Overall Survival Data From Phase 3 ASPIRE Trial To KYPROLIS® (carfilzomib) Label [Amgen] KYPROLIS is the First and Only Treatment to Demonstrate Overall Survival Benefits in Two Phase 3 Studies in Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma.
	5.2.3 Pharma - économie
After cash funneling scandal, biotech billionaire Soon-Shiong charges on with Nant IPO [EndPoints] Nant’s portfolio includes six clinical programs in nine tumor types, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and methods of delivering cancer-fighting cells to tumors.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
Roche announces FDA approval for Venclexta plus Rituxan for people with previously treated chronic lymphocytic leukaemia [Roche] Approval based on phase III MURANO study showing Venclexta plus Rituxan reduced risk of disease progression or death by 81% compared to bendamustine plus Rituxan.
AbbVie, Roche post a big win with a blockbuster FDA OK for Venclexta/Rituxan combo for leukemia [EndPoints] Geoffrey Porges believes that the combo is headed to $690 million in 2019 sales, with Evaluate pegging consensus peak estimates at around $3 billion.
	5.4 Traitements - Economie
Easier Drug Approval Isn’t Cutting Drug Prices [NY Times] Based on the data we do have, the thousand-plus cancer drugs now in clinical development are quite likely to help only a handful of patients, and only a very little bit: According to one recent study, targeted cancer therapies will benefit fewer than 2 percent of the cancer patients they’re aimed at.
	5.5 ASCO
Maximizing the Prospects for Progress Against Cancer [NCI] Since the beginning of my training as an oncologist in 1996, I have often attended the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting. This year’s meeting, however, was the first where I had the honor of attending and speaking in my role as NCI director.
Sharpless: NCI adds $10 million for NCTN and NCORP trials [The Cancer Letter] NCI’s major efforts with regards to large clinical trials are largely supported through our clinical trials networks like the National Clinical Trials Network,” Sharpless said in his June 2 talk at ASCO. “One of the major challenges for these networks over the past few years, however, has been a rapid increase in the per-patient costs for patients on trials.
	5.5.16.2 ASCO (médecine de précision-sein)
Big takeaway from ASCO: 70 percent of women with early breast cancer don’t benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy [The Cancer Letter] Lisa Carey, the discussant at the plenary session focused in part on the subgroup analysis that pointed to a potential benefit for a narrow group of patients. “A couple things that we have to note: the first is this is an exploratory analysis. It’s also an unplanned analysis.”
	6. Lutte contre les cancers
Sam Finnikin: NICE move to improve the quality of shared decision making [BMJ Blogs] Shared decision making is not a new idea. It rose to prominence in the 90’s and was heralded as the optimum model for medical decision making. So why are we now, over twenty years later, having to bring together these national experts to discuss implementation?
	6.6 Publications
North American Universities Increasingly Cancel Publisher Packages [The Scientist] A growing number of libraries are unbundling their subscriptions to the full suite of publishers’ journals, opting for limited titles to save on costs.
China introduces sweeping reforms to crack down on academic misconduct [Nature] Initiatives include a national list of cases, a blacklist of ‘poor quality’ journals and a government agency that is responsible for policing misconduct.