There are new insights about the benefits of the breast cancer drug tamoxifen. This medication has been available for 30 years and works by blocking the action of estrogen in breast tissue. Starting in 1987 British researchers assigned women with early stage breast cancer to take tamoxifen daily for two years. After the initial phase of the study was completed, 3,449 women were randomly assigned to either stop the medicine or continue taking tamoxifen for three more years. Investigators continued to track all the women in the trial through 2010.
A new analysis shows that women who took tamoxifen for five years instead of two were less likely to experience a recurrence. They were also 30 percent less likely to experience cancer in the unaffected breast.
More surprisingly, women who took tamoxifen for five years were less likely to die from heart disease compared to women who only took the drug for two years. Because tamoxifen is available in generic form it is one of the most affordable treatments available following breast cancer.
