Bristol-Myers drug fails Lung Cancer study

A blockbuster cancer treatment failed in a key study as the drug's maker, Bristol-Myers Squibb, attempts to extend its usage for lung cancer patients.

Shares of the New York company plunged 16 percent Friday, its biggest one-day drop in 14 years. Shares of rival Merck & Co., which makes a rival cancer drug, spiked 10 percent to reach an 18-year high.

Bristol's drug, Opdivo, and Merck's drug Keytruda are immunotherapies, which bolster the immune system so that patients can better fight cancer. Both drugs are already approved to treat melanoma and lung cancer, but only after chemotherapy.

In June, Merck reported positive results from a key study focusing on Keytruda as a lone treatment for lung cancer. The negative results from Bristol appear to put Merck in the lead for treating cancer patients without resorting to chemotherapy and its drastic side effects.

The latest late-stage study for Opdivo involved 541 patients who had received no prior treatment for lung cancer.

CVS cuts coverage of Cancer drugs in exclusion expansion

CVS Health Corp. will add 35 products to its lists of excluded drugs in 2017 and no longer cover some treatments for cancer and diabetes, in an aggressive move to favor lower-priced treatments and target what the company called “hyperinflation” of some other products.
The drug benefit manager will remove coverage for Novartis AG’s leukemia treatment Tasigna, Medivation Inc.’s prostate cancer drug Xtandi, and Sanofi’s insulin Lantus, expanding the company’s strategy of excluding expensive products when alternatives are available. The total number of excluded drugs for 2017 will be 131, spokeswoman Carolyn Castel said Tuesday.
It’s the first time that brand-name cancer drugs have been taken off CVS’s standard formula.
Cancer has been one area where pharmacy benefit managers have been reluctant to push exclusions. Yet the rise in prices for pills to treat forms of the disease, combined with the availability of good alternatives, drove CVS to remove some brand-name medications for the first time.

The 2016 Cancer Drugs Fund in England

A ‘new’ version of the English Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) will come into force on July 29, 2016, later than the anticipated April 2016 start. This is the latest evolution of a fund that was first put forward in 2010.
The CDF pays for those cancer drugs that NICE says are not cost effective, or that NICE hasn’t looked at, or those that are in limbo, waiting for NICE’s recommendation.
Reading between the lines it’s clear that companies will need to discount, probably quite heavily, to achieve market access with the prospect of providing rebates too. In return, they’ll potentially get faster NICE appraisal and interim funding from the point of marketing authorization.
With no change to the threshold on cost effectiveness, £20,000 to £30,000 ($26,000-$40,000) cost per Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYS) in most cases, or up to £50,000 ($66,000) for end of life drugs  the discount required could be significant. (And as an aside, NICE has accepted drugs at a higher cost effectiveness threshold and it seems to have been brought down to the maximum of £50,000($66,000) cost per QALY).
Re-appraisal will likely take place in two years, or perhaps longer, depending on how long data needs to be collected for. Reflecting the fragmented nature of the NHS these days, the discussion for those companies given a maybe NICE recommendation also needs to be with NICE on what evidence will be good enough to inform their re-appraisal in future and Public Health England (PHE) who have the responsibility for the key dataset that is expected to be used, the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy dataset (SACT).

More accurate Prostate Cancer prognosis

Men diagnosed with prostate cancer can be provided with a more accurate estimate of their risk of death from the disease, and treatment planned accordingly, according to a Research Article published by Vincent J. Gnanapragasam, of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK and colleagues in PLOS Medicine.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting men, and the risk of disease progression and death is very variable when the disease is diagnosed while it is localized to the prostate gland. Providing as accurate an estimate as possible of the individual risk is important in planning appropriate treatment, which could range from surgery to management by regular observation, as well as in providing advice and support to patients.
Based on data from more than 10,000 UK men with prostate cancer, Gnanapragasam and colleagues developed a scheme in which men were grouped into 5 strata with different levels of risk of prostate cancer death, based on straightforward, routinely available, clinical measurements such as prostate specific antigen (PSA) level, disease stage, and tumor grade as judged by biopsy. In two large groups of men with prostate cancer analyzed separately, this scheme performed better in predicting the risk of cancer death compared to the current 3 risk strata system endorsed by most national and international guidelines.

UPDATE: Cuban researchers battle Lung Cancer with a Vaccine

It is called CIMAvax, and while CIM calls it a vaccine, it is important to note the drug does not prevent disease like a traditional vaccine, at least in its current form. It instead keeps diagnosed tumors in check by inhibiting their growth, acting more as a treatment. This is known as a therapeutic vaccine.

Rather than target the cancer cells directly, the vaccine acts as a form of immunotherapy, harnessing the body's own immune system to fight the cancer instead.

Other countries are participating in clinical trials for CIMAvax, including Japan and some in Europe. The United States is also interested. As the two countries continue to normalize relations after half a century of dispute, FDA clinical trials could start this year and will run in partnership with the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

A range of clinical trials have enabled the vaccine to be tested in 5000 patients worldwide, including 1000 in Cuba. In one small trial, patients younger than 60 lived on average 11 months longer than those who did not receive the vaccination.

New approach for treating Skin Cancer

University of California, Irvine molecular biologists and their colleagues have identified an effective way to combat metastatic melanoma. Led by Alexander D. Boiko, UCI assistant professor of molecular biology & biochemistry at the Ayala School of Biological Sciences and the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Center, the researchers discovered that blocking the cell surface protein, CD47 (known as a "don't eat me" signal), on melanoma cells, increased the degree by which these cells were phagocytosed, or "eaten," by macrophages. The team further discovered that blocking CD47 in combination with targeting a second cell surface protein, CD271, previously found to be expressed on melanoma initiating cells, resulted in virtually complete inhibition of metastases arising from human melanoma.

Prostate Cancer breakthrough

Prostate cancer patients have been offered hope after scientists at Newcastle University, UK, have identified a new group of molecules that could be targeted to slow tumor growth.

Experts used an advanced screening technique which found hundreds of genes were affected by the male hormone testosterone. It is believed this could lead to new diagnostic tests and treatments.
Among the 700 genes identified was an important set that add sugar groups, known as glycans, to the surface of prostate cancer cells. This group has never been investigated before.
Results of the research, published in EBioMedicine, suggest that testosterone changes glycans to make cancer cells more likely to survive, grow and spread to other parts of the body.
Scientists say there is the potential to target these glycans which could stop the growth and spread of tumors and save lives.
Dr Jennifer Munkley, Research Associate at the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University, co-led the three-year research project with Professor David Elliott.