The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7191 p419-425
30 March 2002

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Third European Breast Cancer conference in Barcelona (more)

Risk of contralateral breast cancer reduced by anastrozole treatment

Postmenopausal women with early breast cancer have less risk of developing contralateral breast cancer if they are treated with anastrozole (Arimidex) than if they receive tamoxifen, data suggest.

An analysis of results from the ATAC (Arimidex, tamoxifen, alone or in combination) study, funded by AstraZeneca (manufacturer of Arimidex), was presented last week at the third European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona. It showed that 0.4 per cent of women treated with anastrozole developed a tumour in the other breast compared with 1.1 per cent of women treated with tamoxifen (odds ratio=0.42, 95 per cent confidence interval 0.22–0.79, P=0.0068).

In addition, there were fewer reports of endometrial cancer and vaginal bleeding associated with anastrozole than with tamoxifen (0.5 per cent vs 0.1 per cent and 8.1 per cent vs 4.5 per cent, respectively). Deep vein thrombosis was also more common in patients treated with tamoxifen than in those treated with anastrozole (1.7 per cent vs 1.0 per cent). Musculoskeletal disorders and fractures were more common among women treated with anastrozole.

Results from a separate, independent study, also presented at the conference, show that women with advanced breast cancer who are treated with anastrozole survive longer than those treated with tamoxifen. Among 238 women with hormone receptor positive advanced breast cancer, 60 per cent of those randomised to receive anastrozole had died at the time of data cut-off compared with 89 per cent of those randomised to receive tamoxifen.