| Evista is as effective as Tamoxifen for Breast Cancer |
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A drug, widely accepted for its use in preventing osteoporosis - bone thinning disease in women past menopause can also reduce their risk of invasive breast cancer, researchers reported Monday.
As per the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene-STAR Trial which released positive results on Monday that suggest the osteoporosis drug may be a superior choice to tamoxifen for reducing breast cancer risk in post-menopausal women.
Researchers reported that the drug raloxifene, sold as Evista - prescribed to treat and prevent osteoporosis - the brittle-bone disease that strikes some women after menopause, works as effectively as the older tamoxifen in reducing the risk of breast cancer in high-risk postmenopausal women, but with fewer side effects.
Tamoxifen, whose brand name is Nolvadex, is used for the treatment of early and advanced breast cancer in pre and post-menopausal women. It is also approved by the FDA for the reduction of the incidence of breast cancer in women at high risk of developing the disease.
Supported by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), the results of the five-year Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) trial, which involved 19,747 postmenopausal women, show that raloxifene is less likely than tamoxifen to cause blood clots and uterine cancer. The women who had participated were haphazardly assigned to receive either tamoxifen or raloxifene daily. The plans were programmed to give the drugs to the women for five years, but the results of the trial were released after 47 months of treatment.
The STAR-a clinical trial which is designed to see how the drug raloxifene compares with the drug tamoxifen in reducing the incidence of breast cancer in postmenopausal women who are at increased risk of the disease will be presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Atlanta in June.
The NCI supported study revealed that both raloxifene and tamoxifen were found to reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer by almost 50 per cent compared with a placebo.
It is also revealed in the study that in the group of women who were taking raloxifene, sold under the brand name Evista by Eli Lilly & Co., significantly fewer cases of uterine cancer and blood clots were reported compared with those on tamoxifen-made by AstraZeneca and distributed under the brand name Nolvadex.
Leslie Ford, associate director for clinical research in the NCI`s division of cancer prevention, said, "This is good news for women, women now have a new option for taking action to decrease their risk of breast cancer with fewer side effects."
Eli Lilly& Co., which is still recovering from last week’s dissatisfactory results for Evista from the RUTH trial-Raloxifene Use for The Heart (clinical trial) which indicated that Evista did not offer cardio-protective benefits as the firm had expected, also welcomed the positive results from the STAR trial that suggest the osteoporosis drug may be a superior choice to tamoxifen for reducing breast cancer risk in post-menopausal women.
Nevertheless, the Eli Lilly did not give any time period but said it will use the STAR data for a submission to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting an indication for Evista for the reduction of invasive breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. Shares of the company were down slightly in late-day trading Monday to $52.87.
Whereas, on one hand where Dr. D. Lawrence Wickerham, associate chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, which coordinated the experiment said, "We feel raloxifene is the winner of this trial," on the other hand, some experts said it was not clear whether raloxifene had significant advantages over tamoxifen. Despite the fact that raloxifene reduces the risk of invasive breast cancer it does not reduce the risk of an earlier form of the disease that can become invasive if it is not caught in time. Rather, tamoxifen cuts that risk in half.
After Lung Cancer, Breast cancer is the second major fatal disease among U.S. women. Throughout the world, 1.2 million women and a few men are diagnosed with breast cancer annually.
Researchers said that the results from the fresh study will not mean a change
for pre-menopausal women with a high risk of breast cancer, as there is no data showing whether raloxifene is safe for that group.
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