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MSC Nordics

October 13, 2018
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World Thrombosis Day: Taking 1,600 lives daily and increasing

By | Communication | No Comments

Every year, on October 13, is the World Thrombosis Day, putting a spotlight on the serious medical condition that is taking 1,600 lives each day. Although there are established treatments, this deadly condition is often overlooked or misunderstood. It is, therefore, ever so important to spread awareness and recognize the value of getting a thrombosis risk assessment.

Your life depends on your blood being able to flow freely through your arteries and veins. When the blood is hindered, a number of serious medical conditions such as stroke and heart attack can occur, possibly even leading to death. A blood clot is a usual culprit of hindering blood from reaching all parts of the body. What is described is thrombosis, a disease where there is a formation of blood clots in a vessel. Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) is the collective name for two forms, equally as serious: deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot that occurs in a deep vein usually in the leg, and pulmonary embolism (PE), a clot that breaks loose and travels to the lungs.

Thrombosis can, technically, happen to anyone at any time, forewarned only by vague symptoms. These symptoms include tenderness, often in your calf, swelling and warmth for DVT, and rapid heart rate, unexplained shortness of breath and rapid breathing for PE. The risk of becoming affected by VTE does, however, substantially increase during extended hospital stays, and up to 60% of all thrombosis cases occur during or within 90 days of hospitalization, making it a leading preventable cause of hospital death.

Up to 60% of all VTE cases occur during or within 90 days of hospitalization, making it a leading preventable cause of hospital death.

Thrombosis is treated through the use of anticoagulants, so called blood thinners, which prevents the blood from clotting. The best selling anticoagulant of 2017 was Pfizer’s Eliquis and Johnson&Johnson/Bayer’s Xarelto who sold for 7, respectively 6.2 billion USD. BioStock, the Swedish life science news site, reported earlier this fall that the cardiovascular market amounted to approximately 40 billion USD in sales with the majority being anti-thrombosis drugs. This market has long been dominated by the generic warfarin but, reportedly, highest growth is seen within NOACS – novel oral anti-coagulants. As the market is expected to grow over the next couple of years, we are keeping our eyes on this field.

October 1, 2018
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What’s the deal with the aggressive HER2+ breast cancer?

By | What's the deal | No Comments

Today marks the beginning of the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month taking place worldwide. As two million people are estimated to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 alone, it truly is a global concern. In many countries around the world, breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer among women; each day, 20 women get their diagnosis only in Sweden. We are putting the spotlight on HER2+ breast cancer, an aggressive subtype comprising 10-30% of all breast cancer diagnoses, which has a serious clinical concern of treatment resistance.

HER2+ breast cancer is a particularly aggressive subtype of breast cancer, where the gene HER2 plays a major role in the disease development due to its production of HER2 protein. The HER2 protein receptors normally help to control how a healthy breast cell grows, divides, and repair itself. In 10-30% of breast cancers, however, the HER2 gene does not work correctly and makes too many copies of itself. With the extra HER2 genes telling the breast cells to make too many HER2 protein receptors, the breast cells grow and divide in an uncontrolled way. This is called HER2+ breast cancer, and the description above explains the rationale behind its aggressive nature with faster growth and higher likeliness to metastasize and come back than other subtypes of breast cancer.

Every single day, 20 women in Sweden gets diagnosed with breast cancer.

Cancer is today, thanks to earlier detection and the emergence of new treatment options, far from the death sentence it used to be. Fortunately, research has progressed within this subtype of breast cancer as well, and thanks to the emergence of targeted therapies, the outlook for the patients has improved. Even an early stage HER2+ diagnosis is today treatable with several treatment options targeting the HER2 protein that makes the cancer particularly aggressive and is, as such, also an effective target in treatment.

The medical society does, however, agree that resistance to HER2-targeted treatments remains a serious clinical concern. Reports show that scientists are just beginning to understand why some HER2 tumors are resistant or become resistant to HER2-targeted therapies. Further research and investments in the area are encouraged to support the understanding of the HER2-growth protein to be able to find more effective treatment options for patients with this breast cancer subtype.