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AstraZeneca breast cancer drug (Arimidex) aids survival

Date published: 12/12/2005

A new study shows that Arimidex (anastrozole) is the first aromatase inhibitor to provide an overall survival benefit, compared with tamoxifen, in the treatment of hormone-sensitive early breast cancer. Research carried out at University of Kiel, Germany, has found by replacing tamoxifen with Arimidex, postmenopausal women being treated for early breast cancer may almost halve the likelihood of their disease coming back and reduce their risk of dying by nearly a third.

Key investigator professor Walter Jonat said: "For the first time, an aromatase inhibitor has shown a survival advantage over tamoxifen in early breast cancer. "These studies?confirm that tamoxifen is no longer the best option we can offer our patients.

"Women who have taken two years of tamoxifen should be switched to anastrozole at the earliest opportunity to give them the best chance of surviving their disease." The data was presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), in Texas, and included meta-analysis of three major international trials.

It was found that patients who started taking Arimidex, rather than remaining on tamoxifen, had 29 per cent improvement in overall survival, 45 per cent improvement in event-free survival and 39 per cent improvement in distant recurrence-free survival.

Professor Jeffrey Tobias of the University College London Hospitals, said: "The ATAC trial has confirmed that starting treatment with anastrozole at the earliest opportunity after surgery, and giving it for the full five years of treatment, is more effective than tamoxifen for the prevention of disease recurrence.

"This would suggest that the best place to use anastrozole is right from the start. These new data are important news for women currently taking tamoxifen who can still gain from the significant benefits of anastrozole by switching at two years."

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