Published OnlineFirst December 12, 2013; DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-NB2013-173

NEWS IN BRIEF

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Nexavar (sorafenib; Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Onyx Pharmaceuticals) for the treatment of patients with metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer. The drug, which inhibits the VEGF receptor and several other targets, was approved for advanced renal cancer in 2005 and for unresectable liver cancer in 2007. • The FDA also granted its first marketing authorization for clinical use of a next-generation genomic sequencer. FDA head Margaret Hamburg, MD, and NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, described the decision in a New England Journal of Medicine commentary [doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1314561]. • Clovis Oncology of Boulder, CO, acquired Ethical Oncology Science of Milan, Italy, for its drug lucitanib, an oral inhibitor for FGF receptors 1 and 2 and VEGF receptors 1, 2, and 3. The purchase price is $200 million up front plus other potential payments depending on achieving certain milestones. Clovis will partner with Servier of Suresnes, France, for global development of lucitanib. • Juno Therapeutics, which will develop cancer immunotherapies based on T-cell reprogramming, was jointly launched by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Based in Seattle, WA, the startup initially raised $120 million for work to develop therapies based on chimeric antigen receptor and T-cell receptor technologies. • An analysis from the American Cancer Society warns that if current trends continue, the number of adults in Africa who smoke could increase to 573 million by 2100, from 77 million today. The report suggests that if African countries put appropriate tobacco polices in place, they could avoid 139 million premature deaths by that date. • In 2014, the world market for prescription drugs will hit the $1 trillion mark, predicts a report from the IMS Institute for Health Informatics in Parsippany, NJ. China will represent 34% of the growth in global medicine spending over the next 5 years, the report estimates.

African Cancer Institute Focuses on Early Detection Improving screening and early detection of cervical cancer leads the list of priorities for the recently launched African Cancer Institute (ACI). Located at Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa, the new institute will receive funding from the university and from the Cancer Association of South Africa. ACI will collaborate with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to focus on advancing the prevention, diagnosis, and management of cancer in Africa. “This partnership is of mutual benefit,” says Vikash Sewram, PhD, newly appointed director of the ACI. “Our students and staff can learn from some of the greatest minds in cancer research and, at the same time, we can provide a platform for research in Africa that will assist our colleagues at MD Anderson.” The new institute’s first initiative, led by Kathleen Schmeler, MD, associate professor of gynecologic oncology and reproductive medicine at MD Anderson, will evaluate the use of high-resolution microendoscopy (HRME) in the diagnosis of cervical dysplasia and the prevention of cervical cancer in African women. The technology, developed by Rebecca Richards-Kortum, PhD, and her team at Rice University in Houston, is already being tested in Botswana, Latin America, and China, says Oliver Bogler, PhD, MD Anderson’s senior vice president of academic affairs and professor of neurosurgery research. “The technology supports a lowcost device suitable for resourceconstrained settings to screen mucosal surfaces for nuclear atypia in real time,” says Bogler. “We’ve been working with Rice University on a cell phone–based system in Brazil and China, and now this would be the first significant trial in Africa.” In the ACI trial of the HRME system, an image will be transmitted through a fiber-optic probe and then through additional optics to the cell-phone camera. In a pilot study in China, researchers reported that HRME helped rule out cervical lesions deemed suspi-

John Wright, Rice University

NOTED

The African Cancer Institute’s first initiative will study the use of a high-resolution microendoscopy system to diagnose cervical dysplasia and prevent cervical cancer in African women.

cious after visual inspection or human papillomavirus testing, thus preventing costly and unnecessary treatment. Investigators also will focus on three other high-priority areas: •





Esophageal cancer: Researchers will use endoscopic screening technologies on asymptomatic individuals in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province to identify those with mild, moderate, and severe dysplasia or esophageal cancer. The goal is to define the nature and magnitude of lifestyle-related and environmental risk factors associated with mild, moderate, and severe dysplasia and its progression to esophageal cancer in the region. Palliative care: ACI will participate in an international study aimed at better understanding the decisioncontrol preferences of advanced cancer patients. “There is significant need for palliative care in Africa,” says Bogler. “Much of Africa’s population is rural and, by the time patients present, the cancer is late-stage.” Melanoma: Collaborations will leverage MD Anderson’s expertise in melanoma to create a standardized approach to diagnosis and evidencebased management, establish the first South African biorepository for well-annotated melanoma biospecimens, and develop a pilot study to collect data on knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to melanoma awareness and prevention.

“Focus needs to be placed on development of point-of-care technologies for early detection,” says Sewram. “Detecting cancer early is likely to ensure that the prognosis is better.” ■

For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://CDnews.aacrjournals.org.

8 | CANCER DISCOVERYJANUARY 2014

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Published OnlineFirst December 12, 2013; DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-NB2013-173

African Cancer Institute Focuses on Early Detection Cancer Discovery 2014;4:8. Published OnlineFirst December 12, 2013.

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African cancer institute focuses on early detection.

The recently launched African Cancer Institute at Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch, South Africa will focus on advancing the prevention, diagno...
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