Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Amgen Researchers Find Gene Associated With Lower Heart-Disease Risk
The Wall Street Journal: Amgen Researchers Discover Gene Associated With Lower Risk Of Heart Disease
Researchers from Amgen Inc.’s deCode genetics unit said they have discovered a rare genetic variation that is associated with a 34% lower-than-average risk of heart disease, potentially opening up a new front in the battle against the world’s leading killer. Carriers of the variant, in a gene called ASGR1, had substantially lower levels of harmful cholesterol, which researchers said likely accounted for a portion of the lower heart risk. Amgen is now working on several potential agents designed to mimic the effect of this genetic trait in hopes of converting discovery of a rare mutation into a drug that could have broad impact against a common disease. It expects to begin testing one of the candidates in people within two years. (Winslow and Rockoff, 5/18)
The Wall Street Journal: New Hope For Melanoma Patients
A new study reinforces the potential of a new class of expensive immune-boosting drugs to prolong the lives of people with a deadly form of skin cancer. An estimated 40% of 655 people who took Merck & Co.’s Keytruda in a clinical trial to treat advanced melanoma were still alive three years after starting treatment, the Merck-funded study shows, according to results released online by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Researchers said three-year survival rates for older melanoma treatments were about 10% to 20%. The median overall survival among patients in the study was about two years. (Loftus, 5/18)
The Wall Street Journal: FDA Approves Roche Immunotherapy For Bladder Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Roche Holding AG’s Tecentriq for advanced bladder cancer, which uses the body’s immune system to fight the disease. The FDA said Tecentriq—also known as atezolizumab—is the first product in its class to get U.S. regulatory approval to treat advanced cases of a common type of bladder cancer called urothelial carcinoma. The treatment will cost about $12,500 a patient a month. The FDA also approved a diagnostic to determine which patients may be most responsive to treatment with Tecentriq from Ventana Medical Systems Inc., which is part of Roche Group. (Stynes, 5/18)
The Washington Post: To Your Health If You Get Colon Cancer, Your Prognosis Depends Partly On Where It Started
People with cancer that starts on the left side of their colon live significantly longer than those with right-side tumors, according to a new study that provides insights into how best to match drugs to patients with advanced disease. The retrospective analysis, released Wednesday, involved a federally funded clinical trial with more than 1,100 colon-cancer patients. Overall, it found that those with left-side tumors survived for a median of 33.3 months, while those with right-side tumors survived for 19.4 months. (McGinley, 5/18)
