The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced in the new issue of the Lance Oncology that the use of sunbeds and sunlamps is definitively “carcinogenic to humans.” Until now, the committee of experts who advise the World Health Organization had not confirmed a link between tanning beds, sunlamps and cancer. The new assessment puts sunbed use on a par with smoking or exposure to asbestos.

Bayer’s cancer pill Nexavar shows promise in treating breast tumors, the second-most common form of cancer. Nexavar, when combined with standard chemotherapy Xeloda, helped keep tumors in check for a longer time than that in a control group of patients receiving Xeloda only, according to Bayer. Nexavar is one of Bayer’s most promising drugs and is sold as a liver and kidney cancer treatment in more than 70 countries. Bayer is also pursuing the approval of the drug for use against lung tumors.

The FDA has approved Alimta, the first drug for maintenance therapy of advanced or metastatic lung cancer. Manufactured by Eli Lilly and generically known as pemetrexed, this drug may prevent this form of lung cancer from progressing further after the size of the tumor has shrunk or been stabilized following chemotherapy. Alimta works by disrupting metabolic processes which depend on the B-vitamin folate for cell replication.

The US FDA has approved the Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for generic Casodex Bicalutamide tablets to Sun Pharmaceutical Industries’ subsidiary. These bicalutamide tablets with strength of 50 milligram are therapeutically equivalent to Casodex tablets from AstraZeneca and are used in combination therapy with a lutenizing harmone-releasing harmone (LHRH) analog for the treatment of stage D2 metastatic carcinoma of the prostate. The annual sales of the Casodex tablets are about $314 million in the US.

New research conducted by the National Cancer Institute shows that people consuming high-fat diet are more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, especially if their dietary fat comes from animal foods, such as meat and dairy products. The new study included more than half a million U.S. adults and none of them had pancreatic cancer at the time of the start of the study. Participants were followed for six years, on average, during which 865 of the men and 472 of the women were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.