Breast cancer drug shines in study

By GREGG WYCHERLEY

Women with breast cancer can look forward to better treatment after the release yesterday of results from a study of drugs used in the disease's early stages.

The anti-cancer treatment anastrozole was found to be significantly more effective and had a number of safety benefits over tamoxifen, which has been the drug of choice for 20 years.

The trial of 9366 post-menopausal women with early breast cancer, including 14 from New Zealand, achieved a reduction of 17 per cent in the risk of the cancer recurring, compared with the use of tamoxifen.

Hamilton breast surgeon Mr Ian Campbell, who also chairs the Waikato Breast Cancer Trust, was the principal investigator in the New Zealand study.

He said the results showed some advantages for anastrozole, which works by blocking the take-up of oestrogen in breast cancer cells, in terms of disease-free survival and side-effects.

"It certainly looks promising at this stage and it's the first alternative we've had in this setting for 20 years."

Mr Campbell said anastrozole was registered in New Zealand for use in advanced cancer, but he was confident Pharmac would accept it for treating early breast cancer - although "we are still likely looking at six months to a year at the earliest".

nzherald.co.nz/health