Onco Actu du 27 juin 2018

	2.6 Etiologie - Environnement
Flight crew have higher rates of some cancers, study finds [The Guardian] Some 3.4% of the women who flew for a living had breast cancer, compared with 2.3% in the general population.
	3.1 Prévention - Tabac
Price of Pfizer's smoking-cessation drug Chantix doubles in just 5 years: report [FiercePharma] Chantix has had an up-and-down ride since it was approved in 2006. The consensus is that the drug works wonders for many people trying to kick the habit—Pfizer has reported that 44% of patients quit after 12 weeks on the drug—but side effects have been a point of contention.
	4.9 Dép., diag. & prono. - Sein
New Study Confirms Higher Cancer Rate in Women with Dense Breast Tissue [RSNA] Study supports automated breast density classification as a future standard for breast cancer screening.
	5. Traitements
Outsmarting cancer – staying one step ahead of drug resistance [Institute of Cancer Research] Cancer drug resistance is one of the biggest challenges of 21st century medicine – and a challenge that our researchers are facing up to. Rose Wu introduces how some of our researchers are aiming to outsmart cancer by tackling drug resistance.
	5.1 Traitements - Pré-clinique
Chemotherapy-induced diarrhea traced to immune cells [WUSTL] The new findings, published July 17 in the journal Immunity, provide a new target to help treat chemotherapy-induced diarrhea and, potentially, diarrhea linked to other GI problems. They also raise the possibility that drugs developed to treat diarrheal-related intestinal disorders may have targeted the wrong cells, which could help explain why treatments for these conditions often aren’t very effective.
NCI Projects Aim to Improve Tools, Pre-Clinical Models for Precision Oncology Research [Genome Web] The NCI is slated to launch a lab network next month that will provide researchers in its early-phase clinical trial network with centralized assays for conducting genomic and pharmacodynamic analysis for molecularly targeted drugs.
	5.10 Traitements - Essais
Lynparza significantly delays disease progression in Phase III 1st-line SOLO-1 trial for ovarian cancer [AstraZeneca] AstraZeneca and MSD’s Lynparza is the only PARP inhibitor to demonstrate significant activity in the 1st-line maintenance setting.
AstraZeneca, Merck eye wider cancer drug use after study success [Reuters] Based on the strong results seen in the latest Phase III study, known as SOLO-1, AstraZeneca and Merck said they would talk to regulators about approving the earlier use of the medicine in women with BRCA mutations, which can drive tumor growth.
	5.12.2 Immunothérapies - CAR-T, thérapies cellulaires
CAR macrophage tumor tech created by UPenn star scientists gets $53M [EndPoints] Macrophages infiltrate tissue and hang out there, devouring cells as needed. Since these cells have no trouble reaching the tumor site, Carisma is hoping to harvest them, re-engineer them with CAR targeting tech, and deliver them back to the patient.
	5.12.7 Immunothérapies - vaccins
Poliovirus therapy shows early promise in patients with aggressive brain cancer but questions linger [STAT] There are enough caveats in the study design and weaknesses in the new data to raise doubts, however, about whether the therapy — featured twice already on the CBS news show “60 Minutes” — will live up to the hype. A definitive answer will come only after larger clinical trials.
Doctors Try Genetically Modified Poliovirus As Experimental Brain Cancer Treatment [NPR] "My fear is that every patient and family dealing with the devastating disease of glioblastoma is going to think the poliovirus is the cure. Unfortunately, the patients who are benefiting do reflect a relatively small percentage of the population."
Enemy turned ally: Poliovirus is used to fight brain tumors [AP] The study tested the modified poliovirus on 61 patients whose tumors had recurred after initial treatments. Median survival was about a year, roughly the same as for a small group of similar patients given other brain tumor treatments at Duke. After two years, the poliovirus group started faring better.
	5.2 Pharma
With AstraZeneca on its heels, J&J, AbbVie's Imbruvica speeds toward new nod in Waldenström's [FiercePharma] Imbruvica may not be alone in Waldenström's for too much longer, though. Also at ASCO, AstraZeneca touted data from a phase 2 study of newcomer Calquence, which showed it could provoke a response in 93% of the trial’s 106 previously untreated patients.
	5.3 Traitements - FDA, EMA, NICE...
FDA Repays Industry by Rushing Risky Drugs to Market [ProPublica] “You don’t survive as a senior official at the FDA unless you’re pro-industry,” said Dr. Thomas Marciniak. A former FDA medical team leader, and a longtime outspoken critic of how drug companies handle clinical trials, Marciniak retired in 2014.
	5.3.4 Traitements - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
Puma Biotechnology Announces Results of CHMP Reexamination of MAA for Neratinib for Extended Adjuvant Treatment of HER2-Positive Early Stage Breast Cancer [Puma] Today’s decision follows a reexamination of the negative opinion announced by the CHMP at its formal meeting with the Company to discuss the MAA on February 23, 2018.
Puma Biotech says Europe likely to approve breast cancer drug [Reuters] Puma shares were up 27.5 percent at $65.15 in premarket trading. They are down 48 percent this year through Monday close.
CHMP reverses course on neratinib, handing Puma an unexpected win on European marketing vote — shares soar [EndPoints] The committee members had initially sided against a green light, citing concerns over the serious diarrhea linked with the drug as well as the relevance of the late-stage data they saw in extended adjuvant early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.
	6.10.1 Politiques (USA)
Senators Grill HHS’s Azar on Drug Price Cuts That Have Yet to Come [Xconomy] Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician, pointed to the Novartis cancer drug imatinib (Gleevec). After the FDA approved the drug to treat a rare form of leukemia in 2001, it was priced at $26,000 a year. Since then, the price has risen steadily and it now costs $144,000 a year. But patients in other countries pay less.
Senate panel proposes $2 billion, 5.4% increase for NIH [Science] The numbers suggest the agency is headed for another strong year in the budget process; Congress has approved hefty increases for NIH in each of the past few years.
	6.6 Publications
Will Europe Lead a Global Flip to Open Access? [The Scholarly Kitchen] The emergent problem is straightforward: there appears to be no realistic path forward that achieves the 2020 OA targets without resulting in substantial revenue reductions for existing publishers. Will Europe miss its OA target? Or will publishers miss their revenue targets?
	6.8 Communication
Another hospital issues evidence-free marketing claims about proton beam therapy [HealthNewsReview] This release focuses on one patient’s experiences with proton beam therapy to treat a form of cancer called sacral chordoma. The release is effectively an account of the patient’s diagnosis and his experiences receiving the therapy — but provides little information about potential side effects, cost, or even how well the treatment worked.