Could baking soda improve cancer treatment?

Consuming baking soda may help immunotherapy drugs to fight difficult-to-treat tumors. This cheap and simple intervention may eventually improve current cancer treatments.

Baking soda could help to boost immunotherapy.

Within tumors, large portions are deprived of oxygen. Scientists know that these hypoxic regions tend to be the most resistant to treatment.

If a cell is unable to access adequate oxygen, it slows down and enters what is known as a quiescent state.

The molecular switch mTORC1 is responsible for assessing the situation before telling the cell whether or not it should divide.

If mTORC1 is not present, the cell’s internal processes are shut down. Deep within tumors, mTORC1 activity is almost non-existent.

Baking soda, acid, and cancer

New research delves deeper into this mechanism and finds an incredibly simple way to reverse it: baking soda.

The study took place at the Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania, both of which are located in Philadelphia. The scientists published their results this week in the journal Cell.

Lysosomes, the minuscule bags of enzymes that break down proteins and other biomolecules, were found to play a key role.

The lysosomes of interest are usually situated next to the nucleus. However, when conditions are more acidic — which develops during hypoxia — protein motors transport lysosomes carrying mTOR to other locations.

This movement of mTOR away from the nucleus also transports it away from a protein called RHEB, which is essential for it to function. Without its primary activator, mTOR activity is reduced, the cell’s processes slow down, and most metabolic activity stops.

The study was led by Chi Van Dang, and he explains why this occurs, saying, “Cells don’t want to make proteins or other biomolecules when they’re under stress. They want to slow things down and only awaken when things return to normal.”

Boosting immunotherapy

When a cell enters this quiescent state, cancer drugs are much less effective. So, the researchers wanted to see if it could be overturned. They found that, when mice were given baking soda in their drinking water, the acidity of the quiescent regions of tumors was reversed.

Once this had occurred, lysosomes were sent back toward the nucleus, mTOR was activated by RHEB, and cellular processes were switched back on.

Dang explains what the scientists saw after mice had consumed baking soda, saying, “[T]he entire tumor lights up with mTOR activity. The prediction would be that by reawakening these cells, you could make the tumor far more sensitive to therapy.”

“The concept is so easy. It’s not some $100,000 per year drug. It’s literally just baking soda.”

Chi Van Dang

Cancer immunotherapy has been demonstrated to be less effective in acidic conditions because T cell activation is reduced, so this finding could have important ramifications.

Acidity’s role in cancer progression and treatment is a fledgling area of research, which means that much more work will surely follow. Dang and his team plan to continue their experimentation, focusing on how acidity impacts immunotherapy.

https://bit.ly/2sp5Gb4

Capitalizing on cellular ‘housekeeping’ could help beat age-related diseases

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical School have spent the last two decades studying autophagy, the process cells use to throw out toxic substances that endanger their health. They discovered autophagy not only helps the body fight off infections, but it also protects against many age-related diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders.

The findings raised a question: Could boosting natural levels of autophagy be a safe way to improve health and extend life? A new study in mice, published in the journal Nature, suggests it might.

To answer the question, the researchers genetically engineered mice to have a mutation in a protein called beclin 1. The UT Southwestern team had previously discovered that the gene that makes this protein drives autophagy, and that mutating it prevents it from binding to an autophagy-inhibiting protein called Bcl-2. The mutation resulted in mice born with persistently high levels of autophagy.

The result: The animals lived 10% longer than normal mice and were less likely to develop heart disease, kidney problems and age-related cancer, according to a statement from the university.

The research builds on previous studies showing the genetically engineered mice seem to be protected against the natural decline in autophagy that occurs with age. A year ago, the UT Southwestern team reported that the engineered mice were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

In the new study, the scientists observed that mice with increased levels of autophagy are protected from the loss of klotho—a hormone that has been proven to regulate metabolism and longevity. Klotho is the target of several research programs aimed at combating diseases of aging, and it inspired the startup Klogene, which is working on new approaches to treating Alzheimer’s.

The next step for the UT Southwestern scientists is to develop drugs that disrupt the ability of beclin 1 to bind to Bcl-2, thereby increasing autophagy.

“These studies have important implications for human health and for the development of drugs to improve it,” said Beth Levine, M.D., director of the Center for Autophagy Research at UT Southwestern, in the statement. “They show that strategies to increase the cellular housekeeping pathway of autophagy may retard aging and aging-related diseases.”

https://bit.ly/2H9wfGz

Bayer could be sharpening the ax for R&D cuts: German media

Under the oddly code-named “Super Bowl,” German pharma company Bayer is said to be reviewing its R&D locations, with fears this may lead to the swinging of an ax across some operations.

This is according to a local news report from Wirtschaftswoche, which said a Bayer spokesperson confirmed that it was reviewing some of its research locations. Its original story reported that around 1,000 positions could be up for the chop, although Bayer would not be drawn on whether this would happen, adding it reviews operations across the business all the time.

The board will be debating what will happen in the coming weeks, the newspaper said. Around 8,000 people work in R&D for the German company, which also has a hand in chemicals and other nonpharma work. This comes in the same week that its takeover of U.S. seeds group Monsanto won U.S. approval.

Late last year, and in a major reorganization, Bayer combined its pharma R&D unit under one division and under one leader. The new unit brings together all R&D activities for therapeutic areas across the board within the company’s pharmaceuticals division, including cardiology, gynecology, ophthalmology, hematology and oncology research.

This also came after Bayer spent big on R&D in 2017, paying $400 million (€340 million), and putting a potential $1 billion more on the table, to buy into Loxo Oncology’s tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor franchise, which is seeking FDA approval this November.

It also signed a new and potentially major research pact with Japan’s PeptiDream, using its tech to find macrocyclic/constrained peptides against a whole load of targets.

https://bit.ly/2J7xDLA

Focusing on ALS, Mitsubishi Tanabe America Targets Access, Development

It has been one year since Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America’s (MTPA) Radicava was approved as the first treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in more than 20 years. Since its approval, MTPA has been aggressive in its efforts to get the medication in the hands of ALS patients. The drug officially rolled out to U.S. patients in August 2017.

As of April, about 2,500 patients in the United States have received treatment with the newly approved therapeutic. Also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a rare disease that attacks and kills the nerve cells that control voluntary muscles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 12,000 to 15,000 Americans have ALS, with about 5,000 to 6,000 diagnosed annually. The average life expectancy of an ALS patient is approximately three to five years after diagnosis and only 10 percent of patients survive for more than 10 years. Death usually is a result of respiratory failure.

Radicava is not a cure for ALS, but it slows decline in the daily functioning of ALS patients. The drug was approved based on Phase III clinical trials that demonstrated patients taking the drug had a slower decline in physical function than those taking a placebo. Data demonstrated patients who received Radicava for six months experienced significantly less decline in physical function — by 33 percent.

Kevin O’Brien, MTPA’s vice president of market access, told BioSpace that the rollout of Radicava has been a bit slow, primarily due to hurdles with insurance. Another issue the company has diligently worked on since the FDA approval is the establishment of dosing centers or approval for in-home infusions, O’Brien said as ALS Awareness Month came to an end.

“For a lot of patients finding site of care was difficult. Now there are more than 1,200 infusion centers across the U.S. We’ve tried to hit every hot spot across the country,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien added that the company is anticipating opening more infusion centers to assist ALS patients with their treatments. The company is also working with the Veterans Administration to help the men and women in the armed forces who develop ALS. There are an estimated 3,600 ALS patients in the military. Research has shown that those who serve in the military, regardless of branch or time of service, are more susceptible to the disease. Yet, no one knows why. But, O’Brien said MTPA is doing all it can to ensure those patients have access to Radicava.

Not only is O’Brien focused on increasing access to Radicava, he said the goal over the next six months is to reduce the time it takes between the diagnosis of ALS and the first infusion of the therapy. O’Brien said the goal is for the time frame to be about 30 days, which would be a significant reduction from the more than two months it usually takes. Since they undertook the mission, O’Brien said they have been able to reduce the time it takes for treatment to less than 40 days.

“We’re doing all we can to help the patients. We want to get them diagnosed and into therapy as quickly as possible,” he said. “Since the launch of Radicava it’s been an evolution of learning.”

For O’Brien and the rest of the MTPA family, their days revolve around helping patients. Debbie Etchison, head of public affairs for MTPA, said employees at the company come to work with a sense of purpose each day, especially since the approval of Radicava.

“It makes getting out of bed every day an easy thing because everything we do is focused on the patient,” Etchison said. O’Brien agreed, adding the company measures everything in patients. O’Brien said in his annual review earlier this month he was not asked how he had helped the company achieve its goals, but rather his superiors wanted to know how many patients he had been able to help and how that number could be increased over the next year. He noted that he and other executives often meet with ALS patients to ascertain how they can improve point of care among their target patient population.

“That’s how we live here. We make sure we’re accessible. We’re about patients and how to help them. We’re not talking about the drug, we’re talking about the patients,” he said. “ALS, it’s one of those diseases, the diagnosis has to be the worst thing you can ever get in your life. The disease just takes everything away from these folks.”

While the company continues to improve patient access for Radicava, Etchison said MTPA is continuing to invest in developing treatments for ALS, with hopes for an eventual cure. In April, MTPA’s parent company Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation worked in partnership with Amgen to back the launch of Cambridge, Mass.-based QurAlis, which is developing three therapeutics targeting subsets of ALS. QurAlis is currently developing therapies for three different forms of ALS with known disease mechanisms which include: a transformative device to remove toxic proteins; a drug that mediates overactive neurons and prevents them from dying; and a drug that restores a dysfunctional waste clearance system in cells. Success with any of these therapies will have a tremendous positive impact on ALS patients and their families, the company said when it launched.

“Our commitment to the community goes above and beyond Radicava. We’re investing in the search for a cure,” Etchison said.

https://bit.ly/2JhCu01

Celgene names David Elkins CFO

Celgene (CELG) announced the hiring of David V. Elkins as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer. Elkins will join Celgene on July 1, 2018, and become CFO effective August 1, 2018. Elkins will succeed current CFO Peter N. Kellogg, who will become Celgene’s EVP, Chief Corporate Strategy Officer until his retirement, planned for mid-2019. Elkins joins Celgene from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), where he was Worldwide Vice President and CFO for Consumer Products, Medical Devices and Corporate Functions.

https://bit.ly/2LcF3h8

Mirati has new data on kidney cancer med for ASCO

Mirati Therapeutics announced that new data from the ongoing Phase 1b clinical trial of single agent sitravatinib will be presented at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, annual meeting. The data will highlight initial results from the cohort evaluating sitravatinib in the treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, or mRCC, who are refractory to anti-angiogenic therapy.

https://bit.ly/2ssPNAz

Best Buy sees opportunity in health technologies for seniors

• Consumer electronics giant Best Buy is looking to healthcare and the elderly to help fuel future growth, its CEO told investors on an earnings call May 24.
• Hubert Joly said the company is “testing a service called Assured Livingto help the aging population stay healthy at home with assistance from technology products and services.”
• The company, which already sells medical alert systems and senior-friendly phones, sees health and wellness as key business focus along with entertainment, productivity and communication, Joly said.

Remote monitoring for the elderly is not a new idea, but getting technology to seniors on a large scale could address growing demand for devices and services that help older people age in place.

More than 10,000 Americans are aging into Medicare every day. At the same time, nearly 90% of older Americans want to stay in their homes as long as possible and 80% expect to live the rest of their lives in their current residence, according to AARP.

Swelling in numbers of elderly has sparked a number of startups, as well as interest from larger tech companies. Technologies that promote aging in place include remote sensors, connected scales and blood pressure cuffs, apps for medication adherence, voice command technologies and telemedicine.

For example, MobiHelp makes the Anywhere Help Button, a mobile GPS emergency response system that allows users to call for help anywhere and anytime just by pressing a button. Another startup, Reemo, uses wearables and smart home technology to capture a person’s steps, heart rate, sleep patterns and other motions in real-time and relay the information to caregiver or provider through a dashboard.

“A lot of healthcare is going to move to digital medicine through the home platform, Arta Bakshandeh, senior medical officer at Alignment Healthcare, told Healthcare Dive in a recent interview.

Best Buy’s foray into healthcare echoes other recent efforts to reach more patients by combining health services with popular retail locations. CVS Health and Aetna have pitched their $69 billion merger plan as a way to streamline the patient experience and expand access to high-quality care in convenient, low-cost settings.

Meanwhile, Walmart is reportedly in early talks to acquire Humana, a move that could create cost-effective opportunities especially in underserved rural areas. Humana is the second largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, with 3.5 million enrollees and 4.9 million in Part D drug plans. Walmart — with 1.5 million employees and more than 5,000 stores — already operates pharmacies and primary care clinics, and is working on offering laboratory tests as well.

https://bit.ly/2H2vAGZ