Business Week: Raloxifene, Tamoxifen Both Guard Against Breast Cancer
But first drug helps prevent noninvasive disease more and has fewer side effects, study finds
April 19, 2010\
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay News) -- The latest results from a landmark, long-running study find that both tamoxifen and raloxifene help prevent breast cancer in postmenopausal women, although some differences are starting to emerge between the two drugs.
Raloxifene (Evista), originally an osteoporosis drug, was less effective at preventing invasive breast cancer and more effective against noninvasive breast cancer than tamoxifen. But raloxifene compensated by having fewer side effects and a lower likelihood of causing uterine cancer than its older cousin. Both drugs work by interfering with the ability of estrogen to fuel tumor growth.
"The results of this update are good news for postmenopausal women. It reconfirms that both of these drugs are very reasonable options to consider to reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women," saidDr. D. Lawrence Wickerham, associate chairman of the breast cancer group in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), a clinical trials cooperative group. "We are seeing some differences emerging, but both are effective."
To read more, visit the Business Week website.
< Back
