HEALTHOsteoporosis drug prevents breast cancerPreliminary results indicate raloxifene works as well as tamoxifen against invasive cancer and with fewer side effects but is not as effective against noninvasive types.By Victoria Stagg Elliott, amednews staff. May 8, 2006. Raloxifene appears to prevent invasive breast cancer as well as tamoxifen does while causing fewer adverse events, according to the preliminary results from the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene trial. Experts say this finding, which was released by the National Cancer Institute last month, may herald the beginning of the era of chemoprevention for this disease. "This optimistic news from STAR is a significant step in breast cancer prevention," said John E. Niederhuber, MD, deputy director of the NCI, the study's sponsor. The trial, one of the largest breast cancer prevention investigations ever, randomized nearly 20,000 postmenopausal women at high risk of the disease to receive either daily doses of tamoxifen or raloxifene. According to the NCI statement, both tamoxifen and raloxifene cut the risk of invasive breast cancer in half. Both drugs were also equally good at maintaining bone density. Women on raloxifene, however, had fewer uterine cancers, blood clots and cataracts -- all of which are associated with tamoxifen. "We're declaring raloxifene the winner," said Lawrence Wickerham, MD, associate chair of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, the study's organizer. Researchers hope that some stumbling blocks in terms of breast cancer prevention will now be reduced. Tamoxifen has had a great deal of success as an adjuvant treatment for this disease but has not made many inroads as a preventive. The reasons are mainly because of the drug's side-effect profile and the perception that it is primarily a cancer treatment. Therefore, it has been rarely used in the primary care setting where most prevention work takes place. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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The doctors are in the house
The AMA's House of Delegates is holding its Interim Meeting Nov. 7-10 in Houston, addressing issues such as health system reform and physician payment. Meeting coverage - Slideshow Feature articlesHealth reform review The Massachusetts experience Litigation stress Being sued is personal as well as professional Comprehensive coverage
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