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The End of an Era for Drug Tamoxifen
In Breast-Cancer-Care News, Doctors Announce the End of an Era for Drug Tamoxifen
Cancer specialists meeting in Texas say the hormonal drug tamoxifen is no longer the big drug on campus in treating breast cancer. There now are other drugs available that are safer and more effective.
Hormonal treatment is used to shrink tumors before surgery, prevent cancer from coming back after surgery and chemotherapy, and to fight breast cancer in its advanced stages. They work by blocking the effects of estrogen on the breast cells.
The new drugs are called aromatase inhibitors, or AIs. They block some of the body's production of estrogen. Arimidex and Femara are two AIs that already have FDA approval.
In a recent study of more than 9,000 women, Arimidex reduced the recurrence risk by 22%, among women who had tumors that were sensitive to hormones. After being treated for nearly three years, 10% of the women who received the new drug died or had cancer return. The same thing happened in 12% of those who got tamoxifen alone or in combination with Arimidex.
In another study, more women had their breast tumors shrink when they took Femara, compared to those taking tamoxifen. But more study is needed on that one, since the trial was too small to be conclusive.
These new drugs may increase risk of bone loss, so women probably need to take drugs for osteoporosis while on this cancer treatment.
Most of you allready know this about Arimidex, but what is Femara?? I got this for Web M.D.
BIG MIKIE
In Breast-Cancer-Care News, Doctors Announce the End of an Era for Drug Tamoxifen
Cancer specialists meeting in Texas say the hormonal drug tamoxifen is no longer the big drug on campus in treating breast cancer. There now are other drugs available that are safer and more effective.
Hormonal treatment is used to shrink tumors before surgery, prevent cancer from coming back after surgery and chemotherapy, and to fight breast cancer in its advanced stages. They work by blocking the effects of estrogen on the breast cells.
The new drugs are called aromatase inhibitors, or AIs. They block some of the body's production of estrogen. Arimidex and Femara are two AIs that already have FDA approval.
In a recent study of more than 9,000 women, Arimidex reduced the recurrence risk by 22%, among women who had tumors that were sensitive to hormones. After being treated for nearly three years, 10% of the women who received the new drug died or had cancer return. The same thing happened in 12% of those who got tamoxifen alone or in combination with Arimidex.
In another study, more women had their breast tumors shrink when they took Femara, compared to those taking tamoxifen. But more study is needed on that one, since the trial was too small to be conclusive.
These new drugs may increase risk of bone loss, so women probably need to take drugs for osteoporosis while on this cancer treatment.
Most of you allready know this about Arimidex, but what is Femara?? I got this for Web M.D.
BIG MIKIE
