Tamoxifen provides breast cancer benefits

Taking Tamoxifen for ten years rather than five can half the risk of women dying from breast cancer, a new study has found.

Cancer Research UK has found that oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients taking the drug for longer than the recommended five years are better protected against the disease returning, while they are also less likely to die.

The aTTom study assessed nearly 7,000 women with breast cancer, who took the drug for either ten or five years.

Of those who took tamoxifen for ten years, 25 per cent fewer had recurrences of breast cancer, while 23 per cent fewer died in comparison to those who took it for five years.

Dr Daniel Rea, clinical lead researcher based at the University of Birmingham, said: “These results are important as they establish that giving tamoxifen for longer than the current standard of five years significantly cuts the risk of breast cancer returning.

“Doctors are now likely to recommend continuing tamoxifen for an extra five years and this will result in many fewer breast cancer recurrences and breast cancer deaths worldwide. Tamoxifen is cheap and widely available so this could have an immediate impact.”

Roughly 75 per cent of breast cancers are oestrogen receptor positive and could benefit from hormone therapy, with oestrogen encouraging breast cancers to grow by activating oestrogen receptors.

Tamoxifen works by blocking these receptors, decreasing the chance of breast cancer returning after surgery or developing in the other breast.

However, the drug does have side effects, such as night sweats and hot flushes, while users can also suffer an increased risks of endometrial cancer, blood clots and stroke.

Kate Law, director of clinical research at Cancer Research UK, noted that large clinical trials are important in order to understand how drugs work and learn of the best ways they can be used.

Posted by Fiona Griffiths