Officials at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, part of the World Health Organization, have announced findings from GLOBOCAN 2008, an online resource that provides worldwide estimates of numbers of new cases, and deaths from, cancer for 2008.

he National Institutes of Health has announced the awarding of 10 new Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities. The centers are designed to advance understanding of and address inequities associated with cancer and heart disease, the two leading causes of death in the US.

The European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for the RANK ligand inhibitor denosumab (Prolia) for treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at increased risk of fractures, and for treatment of bone loss associated with hormone ablation in men with prostate cancer at increased risk of fractures. The European approval of Prolia marks its first approval worldwide. Amgen, the manufacturer of Prolia, announced the EC authorization on May 28, 2010.

Agendia, a leader in molecular cancer diagnostics, recently announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared its MammaPrint breast cancer recurrence test for all ages. MammaPrint is the only FDA-cleared breast cancer recurrence test available to patients and physicians. Over the past 3 years, the FDA has issued four clearances for MammaPrint, covering all aspects of this service.

In the lead up to World Cancer Day on February 4, the theme of a campaign launched by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) was “Cancer can be prevented too.” The campaign was backed by a new scientific report, “Protection Against Cancer-Causing Infections,” which focuses on the nine infections that can lead to cancer.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved ofatumumab (Arzerra) for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) whose cancer is no longer being controlled by other forms of chemotherapy. The product was approved under the FDA’s accelerated approval process, which allows earlier approval of drugs that meet unmet medical needs.

Sanofi-aventis US announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted marketing approval for rasburicase (Elitek) to be used for the initial management of plasma uric acid (PUA) levels in adult patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and solid tumor malignancies who are receiving anticancer therapy expected to result in tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) and subsequent elevations of plasma uric acid.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved GlaxoSmithKline’s human papillomavirus bivalent (types 16 and 18) vaccine, recombinant (Cervarix) for the prevention of cervical precancers and cervical cancer associated with oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 for use in girls and young women (aged 10–25). Women are at risk of HPV infecti

The US Food and Drug Administration approved GlaxoSmithKline’s pazopanib (Votrient), the sixth drug to be approved for kidney cancer since 2005.

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended approval by a vote of six to four for pegylated interferon alfa-2b (PegIntron) in the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III malignant melanoma.