Reuters Health News Round Up: African swine fever; breast cancer; Bayer; Merck KGaA; ovarian cancer



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China discovers first cases of African swine fever in the south of the country

The three-month old African swine fever outbreak in China has spread for the first time in the south of the country, its main pork-eating region, after authorities reported on Sunday two case in Yunnan Province (southwest). The news comes as China enters its peak period of pork production before the country's largest festival, the New Year holiday, to be held in early February 2019.

Roche scores win in type of aggressive breast cancer that slows down

A Roche immunotherapy cocktail helped slow down a type of aggressive breast cancer, while new treatments were elusive, bringing positive information to the Swiss drug maker while he was pursuing medicines produced by its rivals. Data from Saturday's trials highlighted the treatment of triple-negative tumors, which affect 15% of breast cancer patients, typically affecting younger women than average.

Roche takes Loxo and Bayer in the cancer class defined by the gene

Roche's cancer pill has been shown to reduce tumors in 57% of patients in a group that can only be identified by genetic profile, the Swiss drug manufacturer challenging an alliance of Bayer and Loxo Oncology in a new targeted treatment area. The results of the test on patients with a gene abnormality known as the NTRK fusion, which occurs in less than 1% of cases for different types of tumors, were presented at the European Society's annual conference. Medical oncology (ESMO) in Munich this Sunday.

KGaA: a partnership could be concluded this year

The German drug maker Merck KGaA could agree on partnership agreements to jointly develop two of its most promising experimental drugs with a rival this year, but more likely in 2019, said Sunday its head of research and development. drug development. "It's possible from the end of the year, but it's really exaggerated – or somewhere in 2019," Luciano Rossetti told Reuters at the annual conference of the European Society of Medical Oncology in Munich on Sunday.

Novartis reduces risk of breast cancer deaths by 35% by gene mutation

An experimental cancer drug that, he hopes, will help Novartis raise awareness of its oncology portfolio and reduce the risk of death or disease progression by more than a third in patients with cancer. of a breast cancer with a gene mutation difficult to target. The Swiss drug manufacturer BYL719, a PI3K inhibitor, also known as alpelisib, combined with hormone therapy, fulvestrant, prolonged median progression-free survival (PFS) at 11 months, compared with 5.7 months previously, announced the Saturday society.

Lynparza of AstraZeneca has demonstrated its effectiveness in curbing ovarian cancer

An AstraZeneca drug blocking the ability of a cancer cell to repair its genetic code has significantly reduced the risk of ovarian cancer worsening in a phase III trial, furthering its lead over two US competitors of the same class. As a maintenance therapy to strengthen initial chemotherapy, Lynparza stopped or reversed tumor growth in 60% of patients three years after the start of the trial. Only 28% of the control group doing chemotherapy alone were spared tumor progression at this stage.

(With agency contributions.)

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