Studies Show Femara May Be More Effective Than Tamoxifen for Breast Cancer

Post menopausal women with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer found success with tamoxifen, a drug used to prevent the cancer from recurring. However, new studies from a large clinical trial report that the drug, Femara, is better at reducing the risk of recurring breast and distant cancers.
Important points about the study:

• The study concluded that postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer had less of a chance of developing new breast cancer or distant cancer when taking Femara, as opposed to Tamoxifen.
  
• The study found a 27% risk reduction of distant cancer development with Femara as opposed to Tamoxifen.
  
• Femara does not increase or decrease the survival rate in comparison to Tamoxifen, however it significantly reduces the risk factor of developing new cancers.

To sum it up, tamoxifen is still very successful therapy for reducing the risk of recurring breast cancer. Femara gives added risk reduction for recurring breast and distant cancer.

Many women and doctors may still choose tamoxifen over Femora because of cost. Tamoxifen and Femara are both expensive drugs, however there is a generic for tamoxifen.

Femara was approved by the FDA for adjuvant therapy on December 28, 2005.