Medical Bulletin 23/September/2023

Here are the top medical news of the day:

Patients with severe psoriasis are at a higher risk for heart disease, study confirms

In the largest study to date exploring the relationship between severe psoriasis and coronary microvascular dysfunction, researchers have found further evidence that patients with severe psoriasis are at higher cardiovascular risk.

Psoriasis is a chronic systemic immune-mediated inflammatory disease that affects 1-3% of the global population. In this study, a total of 503 patients with psoriasis, and without clinical cardiovascular disease, underwent transthoracic Doppler echocardiography to evaluate coronary microcirculation. Investigators uncovered a high prevalence of coronary microvascular dysfunction in more than 30% of asymptomatic patients within the study population.

Reference: Coronary Microvascular Dysfunction in Asymptomatic Patients with Severe Psoriasis Journal of Investigative Dermatology, DOI 10.1016/j.jid.2023.02.037

New Peptide vaccine shows promise in treating aggressive brain tumors

Physicians and cancer researchers from Heidelberg and Mannheim have now treated adult patients with advanced midline gliomas, difficult-to-treat brain tumors, with a peptide vaccine for the first time. The vaccine mimicked a mutational change in a histone protein typical of this type of cancer. The vaccine proved to be safe and induced the desired immune responses directed against the brain tumor.

Diffuse midline gliomas are among the most aggressive brain tumors. In this type of cancer, mutations characteristically occur in the gene encoding histone H3 (H3K27M), a packaging protein of DNA. The mutation gives rise to a novel protein structure - a so-called neoepitope - that can be recognized as foreign by the patient's immune system.

Reference: Niklas Grassl et al, A H3K27M-targeted vaccine in adults with diffuse midline glioma, Nature Medicine 2023, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02555-6

European Commission grants approval to the first Tocilizumab biosimilar

The European Commission has granted marketing authorization to Fresenius Kabi for its tocilizumab biosimilar, Tyenne. This marks the first approval of a tocilizumab biosimilar in Europe, as announced in a press release on September 19 by the manufacturer, Fresenius Kabi. Tyenne is indicated for treating various conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile idiopathic polyarthritis, giant cell arteritis, CAR-T cell-induced severe or life-threatening cytokine release syndrome and COVID-19.

The European Medicines Agency opinion letter has confirmed that Tyenne demonstrates "comparable quality, safety, and efficacy" to the reference product RoActemra (tocilizumab), an interleukin-6 receptor inhibitor that gained initial authorization in the European Union back in 2009. Tyenne will be available in two forms: a 162 mg/mL prefilled syringe for subcutaneous injection and a 20 mg/mL concentrate for a solution suitable for intravenous administration.

Company’s CEO Pierluigi Antonelli said, “Being on the cutting edge of proposing an affordable, high-quality, and safe tocilizumab treatment option to health care providers and patients living with autoimmune diseases is an exciting step in our mission to provide access to alternative treatment options.