Uncategorized

New Breast Cancer Drug Could Become Most-Prescribed

An international study suggests that a new drug called Femara may fight advanced breast cancer better than tamoxifen, the most-prescribed treatment at this time. As a result of the study, the FDA’s scientific advisors voted unanimously that Femara be approved as a first-line therapy for metastatic breast cancer _ cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Researchers studied 907 postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer, and found that patients taking Femara had 3.6 more months before their tumors worsened, allowing them to postpone undergoing the more toxic chemotherapy treatment. In addition, the risk of the cancer worsening was 30 percent less among patients taking Femara than among patients taking tamoxifen. Femara is used to treat estrogen-dependent breast cancer, which represents 60 percent of breast cancer cases. Forty percent of breast cancers are progestin dependent, and studies suggest that mifepristone, a progestin inhibitor, is promising as a treatment for breast and other progestin-dependent cancers. Join the Feminist Majority Foundation in urging the National Institute of Health to conduct research on the use of mifepristone as a treatment for progestin-dependent cancers and other illnesses.

Sources:

Associated Press _ December 15, 2000 and Feminist Majority Foundation

Support eh ERA banner