Breast cancer
Aromatase inhibitors better than tamoxifen for preventing recurrence of early breast cancer
Source: Dr. Steven Harmes, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas Texas / Wikimedia Commons
Patients with early breast cancer have better outcomes when treated with aromatase inhibitors compared with tamoxifen
Management of early breast cancer involves aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and tamoxifen to prevent recurrence during and after treatment. To investigate their relative efficacy, the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group undertook a meta-analysis of 31,920 postmenopausal women with oestrogen-receptor-positive early breast cancer in nine randomised clinical trials.
Results showed that taking an AI for five years reduced ten-year breast cancer mortality by around 15% compared with taking tamoxifen for five years (two-sided P=0.009). This was equivalent to around a 40% reduction versus no treatment. In the first four years of treatment, AIs also reduced recurrence rates by around 30% compared with tamoxifen (two-sided P<0.0001). The relative risks differed little by age, body mass index, stage, grade, progesterone receptor status or HER2 status.
In light of these findings, the authors of The Lancet study (online, 23 July 2015[1]) propose a review of guidelines that recommend beginning treatment with tamoxifen.
Citation: The Pharmaceutical Journal DOI: 10.1211/PJ.2015.20069089
Recommended from Pharmaceutical Press

Pharmaceutical Press is the publishing division of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and is a leading provider of authoritative pharmaceutical information used throughout the world.
Visit rpharms.com
Have your say
For commenting, please login or register as a user and agree to our Community Guidelines. You will be re-directed back to this page where you will have the ability to comment.