Onco Actu du 9 janvier 2020

	2.13 ETIOLOGIE - NDMA
FDA alerts patients and health care professionals to two voluntary recalls of ranitidine [FDA] The medicines are being recalled because they may contain unacceptable levels of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA).
	2.14 ETIOLOGIE - TALC
Relief for J&J? Large new study finds no clear link between talc and cancer [Fierce Pharma] As Bloomberg points out, the study didn’t track which type of powder the women used—it could have been talc or cornstarch—and it didn’t examine whether the talc had contained asbestos. It’s “not great data,” study author Katie O’Brien told the news service, but it’s still the biggest study on the topic and "probably will be for a very long time.”
'No evidence' that talcum powder causes ovarian cancer new review finds [NHS Choices] The study was widely reported in the UK media, with most reports speculating that the study would lead to the reversal of lawsuits compelling Johnson & Johnson to pay millions of dollars in compensation to women who claim talc caused their ovarian cancer.
	3.4 CHIMIOPRÉVENTION
Statins may do double duty on heart disease and cancer {AHA] Being on a statin lowered the risk of heart attack by 9% and stroke by 23% compared to the nearly 40% reduction in death from colorectal cancer.
	4.1 DÉP., DIAG. & PRONO. - PROSTATE
AI can be used to detect and grade prostate cancer [Karolinska Institutet] The study, presented in The Lancet Oncology, shows that the AI-system is as good at identifying and grading prostate cancer as world-leading uro-pathologists.
	5.1 TRAITEMENTS - PRÉ-CLINIQUE
Nanoparticles Deliver ‘Suicide Gene’ Therapy to Pediatric Brain Tumors Growing in Mice [Johns Hopkins] Specifically, the experiments found that a combination of the suicide gene and ganciclovir delivered by intraperitoneal injection to mice killed more than 65% of the two types of pediatric brain tumor cells.
Study shows protein inhibitor as potential treatment approach for common mutations found in non-Hodgkin lymphomas [MD Anderson Cancer Center] Through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing of cell lines and using mouse models, the research team also showed that HDAC3 selective inhibitors reverse aberrant epigenetic programming caused by CREBBP resulting in growth inhibition of lymphoma cells and restoration of immune surveillance.
Two drugs used in combination prove to be effective against most aggressive asbestos cancer in mice [CNIO] The results of the study were to a great extent unexpected. The researchers were working on bladder cancer in mice, focusing on two tumour suppressor genes: Pten and Trp53. Surprisingly, the mice did not develop bladder cancer but an aggressive form of sarcomatoid mesothelioma.
	5.10 TRAITEMENTS - ESSAIS
For Metastatic HER2-Positive Breast Cancer, New Treatments Emerge [NCI] The trials tested the drugs tucatinib and trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) in women who had been previously treated for metastatic breast cancer that overproduces the HER2 protein, known as HER2-positive breast cancer.
	5.12.11 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - PRÉ-CLINIQUE
How pancreatic RAS tumors protect themselves. Researchers point to a new protein — and maybe a new treatment [EndPoints] “The PD-1 checkpoint therapy won’t have an effect if the [immune] cell can’t get into the tumor,” she said. Her paper tested if an anti-interleukin drug like canakinumab could be used in combination with a PD-1 drug, the former clearing the way for the latter, finding a 32% reduction in mice.
Pancreatic Cancer Cells Secrete Signal that Sabotages Immune Attack on Tumors [NYU Langone Health] “This work provides strong evidence that blocking the action of IL-1β enables T cells to better penetrate tumors and kill cancer cells, mechanisms with potential to overcome the limitation of currently available immunotherapies in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.”
	5.12.5.1 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - BIOTECH
Shreds of Tregs: French biotech wins Medicxi backing to kill the rogue immunosuppressive agent to fight cancer [EndPoints] The Parisian company, Alderaan Biotechnology, is still very early in its journey. The Series A round of funding from Advent France Biotechnology (AFB) and Medicxi will be used to complete the preclinical development of its regulatory T cell (Tregs) depleting CD25-specific antibody and take it into the clinic by 2022.
	5.12.6 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - AMM
FDA Approves Merck’s KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) for Patients With BCG-Unresponsive, High-Risk, Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer With Carcinoma In Situ With or Without Papillary Tumors Who Are Ineligible for or Have Elected Not to Undergo Cystectomy [Merck] KEYTRUDA Is the First Anti-PD-1 Therapy Approved for Certain Patients With High-Risk, Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.
Merck's Keytruda wins U.S. FDA approval for bladder cancer [Reuters] Merck had estimated that more than 80,000 Americans were newly diagnosed with bladder cancer over the last year, of which more than three fourths of patients were expected to have non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
FDA approves pembrolizumab for BCG-unresponsive, high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer [FDA] Efficacy was investigated in KEYNOTE-057 (NCT, a multicenter, single-arm trial that enrolled 148 patients with high-risk NMIBC, 96 of whom had BCG-unresponsive CIS with or without papillary tumors.
	5.12.8 IMMUNOTHÉRAPIES - ECONOMIE
Lung cancer immunotherapy gets initial ‘no’ for NHS in England [Cancer Research UK] Adding the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq) to standard chemotherapy drugs has been shown to give patients more time before their cancer gets bigger and can improve survival. But NICE concluded there wasn’t enough evidence that these benefits are sustained in the long run, making it hard to say if the drug would be cost effective.
	5.2.1 PHARMA - PARTENARIATS
Scoop: Sanofi quietly ties up with a low-profile, preclinical cancer biotech — FTC signs off [EndPoints] One of the key focuses at Nurix is its BTK program. It also has a preclinical effort centered on the ubiquitin system and key enzymes called E3 ligases. Protein degradation has proved a promising approach in oncology, attracting a group of players to the field.
	5.2.6 PHARMA - BIOTECH
Lilly looms over Blueprint as the biotech files targeted cancer drug [Biopharma Dive] Blueprint expects to complete the lung cancer application for its drug, named pralsetinib, sometime in the first quarter. The biotech also intends to ask regulators to approve pralsetinib as a treatment for medullary thyroid cancer, with an application planned for the second quarter.
	5.3 TRAITEMENTS - FDA, EMA, NICE...
Fostering Oncology Product Development for Kids with Cancer [FDA Law Blog] The purpose of this guidance is to facilitate the development of molecularly targeted therapies for the treatment of pediatric cancers.
	5.3.4 TRAITEMENTS - AMM (FDA, EMA,...)
2019 FDA drug approvals [Nature Reviews Drug Discovery] Cancer remained the dominant therapeutic area, accounting for 11 (23%) of the approvals and on a par with the 25% 5-year average.
	6. LUTTE CONTRE LES CANCERS
Big News in Cancer, Versus Big Talk About It [In The Pipeline] I especially liked the part where its author, Rebecca Robins, contacted 17 of the people who were quoted in the original 2016 press release showering praise on the whole idea, and found that none of them seemed to be available for comment.
At 2020 deadline, progress in Patrick Soon-Shiong’s ‘cancer moonshot’ is hard to find [STAT] In 2016, the biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong set himself a deadline: By 2020, he would transform the fight against cancer. Four years later, independent medical researchers say they’ve heard virtual radio silence from Soon-Shiong’s initiative. And a review by STAT of clinical trial listings, research presentations, and press releases suggests the effort has fallen far short of its major goals.
	6.1 OBSERVATION
Steepest decline in US cancer mortality ever recorded, study finds [EndPoints] Peter Bach, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s center for health policy and outcomes, took issue with attributing the decline in cancer mortality to new medicines in the study led by ACS’ Rebecca Siegel. The study does not test this hypothesis, the renowned researcher and epidemiologist wrote on Twitter. “Epidemiology may be opaque but it is not opinion.”
Strides in lung cancer lead steep decline in U.S. death rates [Reuters] Progress has slowed for female breast and colorectal cancer, and has essentially leveled off for prostate cancer over the past decade, the report found.
Immunotherapy, precision medicine in lung cancer drive sharp decline in cancer mortality overall [The Cancer Letter] As I look through just-published tables of age-adjusted cancer mortality, I recognize an unprecedented development: Immunotherapy is showing such a dramatic impact in the treatment of locally advanced and advanced non-small cell lung cancer that this effect elevates the statistics for all lung cancer and—this I find astonishing—you can even see its effect in age-adjusted cancer mortality overall.
Facts & Figures 2020 Reports Largest One-year Drop in Cancer Mortality [ACS] The decline in deaths from lung cancer drove the record drop. Deaths fell from about 3% per year from 2008 - 2013 to 5% from 2013 - 2017 in men and from 2% to almost 4% in women.
Cancer Death Rate in U.S. Sees Sharpest One-Year Drop [NY Times] Breakthrough treatments for lung cancer and melanoma have driven down cancer mortality overall — and from 2016 to 2017 spurred the largest-ever decline.