Here is the medical news to watch for June 5-11, 2023

As always, there will be a lot of data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, which is taking place in Chicago June 2-6, 2023. Abstracts were released on May 25, 2023, and there are (and will be) numerous reports based on those abstracts. Here we try point out some trials you may want to give special attention. We are not reporting the data, except sometimes to reference “preliminary” (meaning abstract) findings, with 2 exceptions where the actual data were released in a press conference [in cervical cancer and in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)]

The mpox (monkeypox) outbreak is not over. The U.S. government is warning of a possible summer surge and planning a summer vaccination push. This report has some interesting information about the efficacy of the vaccine and the outbreak in Chicago

2023Calendar2H.pdf

Obesity researchers at the Obesity Medicine Association meeting were optimistic about medications to treat obesity, particularly Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy (semaglutide 2.4 mg), but also others on the horizon. They are concerned about: undertreatment, cost, insurance coverage, lack of physician time and obesity training, and lack of an obesity diagnosis. Obesity was compared to hypertension – a condition usually requiring lifelong treatment.

Among the many impactful trials presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting and discussed in this report are: the STELLAR trial of Merck/Acceleron Pharma’s sotatercept for pulmonary arterial hypertension; a Phase IIb trial of Merck’s MK-0616, an oral PCSK9 inhibitor in hypercholesterolemia; the CLEAR trial of Esperion Therapeutics’ Nexletol (bempedoic acid) for cholesterol lowering; a meta-analysis that found CRP an important cardiac risk factor along with news that colchicine can lower CRP; the FOREST-HCM trial of Cytokinetics’ aficamten in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; the HALO trial of AstraZeneca/CinCor Pharma’s baxdrostat in hypertension; the TRILUMINATE trial of Abbott’s TriClip in tricuspid regurgitation; and the PULSED AF trial of Medtronic’s PulseSelect in atrial fibrillation.

The hot topics at AGBT were spatial genomics and single-cell analysis. Illumina’s new NovaSeq X is on most labs buy (or wish) list, but Illumina’s attempt to upset PacBio’s hold on long reads wasn’t doing as well, with PacBio’s new Revio generating a lot of interest – and praise. Bionano piqued a lot of interest but didn’t have a real presence. 10x appeared to be holding its own but not really generating any excitement. NanoString has estab-lished itself and is doing some exciting research, but other companies to watch include: Akoya Biosciences, Element Biosciences, and Parse Biosciences.

There are a number of new therapies – and more in development – to treat graft-versus-host disease in transplant patients, particularly for pediatric patients. These range from microbiotics to IL-22, GLP-2 analogs, and integrin receptor antagonists to immunomodulators, JAK inhibitors, ROCK2 inhibitors, and even vitamin A. So, which one is right for which patient?