Onco Actu du 16 janvier 2019

	1.4 BIOLOGIE - TECHNOS
2019 Sequencing Tech Speculations: Will We Actually See New Entrants? [Omics! Omics!] There's still great opportunity in the sequencing space, but the existing players do keep raising the bar. I'm not the green eyeshade type at heart, but both Illumina and Oxford Nanopore should be well under the $1K genome and the PacBio technology isn't far behind.
Brain Tumors Through the Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Lens: Researcher Interview with Mario Suvà [NCI] Knowing which cell types are being eradicated by therapy and which resist and recur in a heterogeneous tumor is very informative. Single-cell analysis is very powered to identify the programs that emerge out of resistance to any type of therapy.
	2.6 ETIOLOGIE - ENVIRONNEMENT
French court cancels Monsanto weedkiller permit on safety grounds [Reuters] The French court said ANSES had not respected a precautionary principle in French law, notably by not conducting a specific evaluation of health risks for Roundup Pro 360.
	3.1 PRÉVENTION - TABAC
It's never too late to quit smoking before lung surgery [Reuters] The researchers studied 666 patients who had surgery for lung cancer between 2012-2016, including 256 never-smokers and 410 current or previous smokers. During the three months following the operations, about 32 percent of current smokers had respiratory complications, as compared to 22 percent of previous smokers and 3.5 percent of non-smokers.
	4. DÉPISTAGE, DIAGNOSTIC ET PRONOSTIC
More accurate leukemia diagnosis expected as researchers refine leukemia classification [St. Jude Research Hospital] Researchers used integrated genomic analysis, including RNA sequencing, to define the genomic landscape of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in almost 2,000 children and adults. Investigators identified 23 subtypes of B-ALL, including eight new subtypes, with distinct genomic and clinical features as well as outcomes.
	4.9 DÉP., DIAG. & PRONO. - SEIN
Novel imaging technology may help reduce biopsies for breast tumors [WUSTL] Zhu uses ultrasound-guided diffuse light tomography, an imaging method that relies on near-infrared light to get a better look at the blood vessels within the suspicious mass. Her unique approach uses a commercial ultrasound transducer and near-infrared optical imaging sensors mounted on a hand-held ultrasound probe.
Media claims of breast cancer testing tool are premature [NHS Choices] We're a long way from knowing if such a tool is ever likely to be brought into clinical practice. There would be many things to consider such as who you'd offer the test to and when, the practicality of getting all the required data, and the accuracy of the predictions.
Breast cancer risk test 'game changer' [BBC News] The Breast Cancer Now charity called it a "promising step" but cautioned that more research was needed to develop and test the tool before it could begin to change NHS practice.
	5. TRAITEMENTS
High-precision radiotherapy can safely treat prostate cancer spread [Institute of Cancer Research] “We have shown that intensity-modulated radiotherapy is a smarter, kinder treatment for locally advanced prostate cancer that can be administered to the pelvic lymph nodes as well as the prostate without having a detrimental impact on a patient’s quality of life."
	5.1 TRAITEMENTS - PRÉ-CLINIQUE
Antihypertension drug losartan may improve treatment of ovarian cancer [Mass. General Hospital] The extracellular matrix itself can keep high-molecular-weight drugs from penetrating tumors, and angiotensin signaling contributes to matrix formation. Since levels of an important enzyme in the angiotensin pathway are elevated and associated with poor outcomes in ovarian cancer, we investigated whether use of losartan to decrease fibrosis could improve outcomes in animal models of ovarian cancer.
Conversion of breast cancer cells into fat cells impedes the formation of metastases [University of Basel] An innovative combination therapy can force malignant breast cancer cells to turn into fat cells. This can be used to prevent the formation of metastases in mice, as researchers at the University of Basel’s Department of Biomedicine recently reported in the journal Cancer Cell.
	5.12 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES
Tumor Mutation Burden Predicts Immunotherapy Benefit Across Cancers, Though Cutoffs Differ [Genome Web] While the results need further exploration in additional studies, the MSK study is worth paying attention to, Morris said, because a number of labs are reporting TMB status using a universal cutoff in reports from next-generation sequencing cancer panels. "Our data suggests that cutoff is likely to be very different from one cancer to another," he said.
More Cancer Mutations, Better Immunotherapy Outcomes [The Scientist] Immune checkpoint inhibitors are generally most effective against tumors with more genetic mutations, according to a new study, although the relationship isn’t true for all cancers.
	5.12.1 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - PARTENARIATS
MD Anderson Cancer Center and Dragonfly Therapeutics announce strategic collaboration to take new immunotherapy candidates into clinical trials [MD Anderson Cancer Center] Dragonfly’s TriNKETs™ bind to the proteins expressed on both cancer cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Through this binding NK cells are activated, making them aware of the cancer and allowing them to directly kill the cancer cells while notifying other immune cells to attack the cancer.
	5.12.2 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - CAR-T, THÉRAPIES CELLULAIRES
FDA planning new guidance, hires in cell and gene therapies for 2019 [Fierce Biotech] From the end of next year going forward, the agency expects to receive at least 200 investigational new drug (IND) applications annually from companies looking to begin clinical testing. The FDA predicts those will translate into 10 to 20 cell and gene therapy approvals each year by 2025.
Gottlieb, Marks Detail Plans to Advance Development of Cell and Gene Therapies [RAPS] According to Gottlieb and Marks, accelerated approval is particularly relevant for gene therapies as the agency can mandate postmarket studies to measure the durability of the treatment and long-term safety issues that would be difficult to address in the premarket setting.
Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. and Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research on new policies to advance development of safe and effective cell and gene therapies [FDA] Our new guidance will recommend parameters for how innovators can introduce advances in manufacturing that promote the more efficient development and application of CAR-T therapies without necessarily requiring costly new clinical investigations.
	5.12.5 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - PHARMA
Merck highlights crucial hit for Keytruda in second-line esophageal carcinoma — but there are also 2 misses [EndPoints] For the entire intention-to-treat population, though, the difference in OS between two arms was not statistically significant with a median OS of 7.1 months for both treatment groups.
	5.2 PHARMA
Nivien’s Shot [In the Pipeline] Nivien didn’t even get to human trials themselves, with their famous 90% failure rate, but anyone who’s done this work will tell you that preclinical failure rates are no joke, either. And both Horwitz and LaMattina are right that hardly anyone outside the industry seems to know this.
The Demise Of A Once Promising Pancreatic Cancer Drug Is All Too Common [Forbes] The public really doesn’t appreciate the important role that the biopharmaceutical industry plays. Companies as small as Nivien or as large as Pfizer find the chemical tools and run the experiments that prove or disprove medical hypotheses. The vast majority of times, these efforts fail. But, when they work, it is wondrous.
	5.2.3 PHARMA - ÉCONOMIE
Pfizer Halts Development of Five Preclinical Biosimilar Assets [RAPS] Joining a handful of other companies – from Boehringer Ingelheim to Momenta to Sandoz and more -- in exiting the US biosimilar space in some shape or form, Pfizer’s exit reiterates the need to raise questions about the viability of the US biosimilar market as a whole.
	5.3 TRAITEMENTS - FDA, EMA, NICE...
As Brexit nears, EMA improves staff retention forecast, commits to uninterrupted drug evaluations [Fierce Biotech] The latest staff retention forecast suggests the EMA is on course to pull off such a relatively painless move to Amsterdam, emboldening the agency to state it “expects all core activities related to the evaluation and supervision of medicines to continue without any interruption or delays foreseen and to the same quality.”
	5.3.4 TRAITEMENTS - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
FDA Rounded out 2018 With Three Oncology Approvals [Cancer Research Catalyst] These decisions brought the total number of new anticancer therapeutics approved by the FDA in 2018 to 18, a record in recent years.
In a first, China’s BeiGene scores FDA ‘breakthrough’ status for BTK inhibitor — potential rival for Imbruvica [EndPoints] The biotech says its Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, zanubrutinib, now enjoys breakthrough status granted by the FDA — specifically, in the treatment of adult patients with mantle cell lymphoma who have been treated with at least one prior therapy. It’s the first cancer therapy from mainland China to receive this endorsement.
	5.5.5 ASCO (GASTRO-INTESTINAL)
ASLAN Pharmaceuticals to present positive varlitinib data in first-line biliary tract cancer in combination with chemotherapy at ASCO GI [Aslan] Varlitinib in combination with gem/cis has been well tolerated in BTC patients and the data also demonstrate increased activity of varlitinib in combination with gem/cis compared to gem/cis alone.
Eisai To Present Results Of Post-Hoc Analyses Of Lenvima® (Lenvatinib) Phase III REFLECT Study In Hepatocellular Carcinoma At 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium [Eisai] Presentations of interest include an oral presentation on a landmark analysis of the relationship between overall survival (OS) and objective response (OR) in patients from REFLECT, and a poster presentation on a post-hoc analysis of responders from REFLECT who received first-line lenvatinib and subsequent anticancer medication.
Array BioPharma Announces 15.3 Months Median Overall Survival from the Safety Lead-in of the Phase 3 BEACON CRC Trial of the Combination BRAFTOVI®, MEKTOVI® and ERBITUX® in BRAF-Mutant Metastatic Colorectal Cancer [Array] Data will be presented at ASCO 2019 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
	6. LUTTE CONTRE LES CANCERS
Cancer’s long-term prognosis: as an oncologist I’ve never been so hopeful [The Guardian] For oncologists and patients fortunate to live in a few developed countries, the news about cancer really does keep getting better although even there, minority status, socioeconomic disadvantage and illiteracy are associated with poorer outcomes that we cannot ignore. But the real tragedy of cancer continues to unfold beyond the borders of the developed world.