Alternative breast cancer drug shows promise

The drug anastrozole (Arimidex) is more effective at inhibiting breast cancer recurrence than tamoxifen, a study published in the Lancet has found (2005;366:455-62). Researchers in Austria and Germany studied 3200 postmenopausal women who had received two years of tamoxifen, the current first line drug treatment for women with hormone responsive breast cancer. One randomised group continued receiving tamoxifen (1606 women), and the other took anastrozole alone (1618 women).

After a two year follow-up, the anastrozole group had 40% fewer events, defined as local recurrence, distant recurrence, or contralateral breast cancer. The tamoxifen group had 110 events, while the anastrozole …