Subject: 'Todays' breast cancer drug story....
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 155729 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru@hotmail.com
--------------------------------------------------
Whew.......
This has been a busy day. I'm going to send this one and then quite....
BUT, you DO realize that a day can't go by without another story
about successes in the breast cancer drug research field..... The
industry is going to keep giving you about one press conference a day
until the budget is completed ... and well funded for breast cancer
research!!!!
(Boy ... I could catch hell for that?!#*#!?.....)
Just kidding ladies..... More power to you and the energetic breast
cancer RICH health bureaucracies and RICH drug companies of America!!!!
Of course, they won't be so RICH if they ever get busy and go to work on
the 'prevention and avoidance' of breast cancer......EMF, EMF, EMF EMF)
(Actually, I just wish somebody would get busy and put together an
'effort' like that for us poor 'prostate' slobs......)
Cheerio.....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org..............http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html
................................It is better to light a single candle ...
than to curse the darkness...............................................
_________________________________________________________________
11:29 AM ET 05/18/98
Cancer, osteoporosis drugs may prevent breast cancer
By Mark Egan
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Women who have a high risk of breast
cancer may have two drugs to choose from to prevent the disease
-- one a cancer drug and one a drug originally designed for
osteoporosis, researchers said Monday.
They said both tamoxifen and raloxifene work to prevent
breast cancer in certain woman.
The news about raloxifene leaked out ahead of the annual
meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, but this
was the first presentation of the details.
Researchers said they were planning another trial that will
pit the two drugs against each other to determine which of the
two is more effective in preventing breast cancer.
Dr. Steven Cummings of the University of California San
Francisco said the osteoporosis drug raloxifene reduced the risk
of developing breast cancer by 68 percent in post-menopausal
women with osteoporosis.
The trial of raloxifene, sold under the name Evista for
treating osteoporosis by Eli Lilly & Co., began with the aim of
determining the rate of fractures among women with osteoporosis
and produced the breast cancer data as a bonus benefit.
The study of almost 8,000 women found that raloxifene
reduced the incidence of breast cancer in post-menopausal women
by as much as 70 percent. Results indicated the drug did not
increase the incidence of endometrial, or uterine, cancer.
``These results for 33 months are very good news for women who
are concerned about breast cancer and osteoporosis,''
Cummings told reporters. ``Our trial is continuing so we can
learn how well Evista prevents breast cancer over the longer
term.''
Dr. Donald Wickerham of the National Surgical Adjuvant
Breast and Bowel Project at Four Allegheny Center in Pittsburgh
and colleagues did a separate study on tamoxifen.
They found tamoxifen reduced the risk of breast cancer in 45
percent of women at high risk of the disease.
``(This data) represents the first step in making the hope
of breast cancer prevention a reality,'' Wickerham said.
Wickerham said the comparison trial of the two drugs would
begin this fall in post-menopausal women at high risk of breast
cancer.
Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in women,
with about 180,000 cases diagnosed each year in the United
States. It is expected that 43,500 women will die from the
disease this year in the United States.
Tamoxifen is marketed as a cancer drug under the name
Nolvadex by Zeneca Group Plc.
The two trials were not easily comparable given their
different patients, hence the need for a comparison study.
The tamoxifen trial followed 13,388 healthy women whose risk
of contracting cancer was about five times greater than the
average woman.
High risk was determined by family history, age, pregnancy
history, age at time of menstruation and other factors.
The study found a small risk of some major complications.
Patients taking tamoxifen increased their risk of developing
endometrial cancer, cancer of the lining of the uterus.
Of those who took tamoxifen in the trial, 33 developed
endometrial cancer as compared to 14 in the placebo group. The
risk of blood clots was also higher. Women under 50 had no
excess risk of side effects, the report said.
It was not a great surprise to doctors that raloxifene can
work an an anti-cancer drug.
Both tamoxifen and raloxifene are drugs called selective
estrogen receptor modulators, which block the negative actions
of estrogen in some tissues such as the breast and mimic
estrogen's benefits in other tissues such as bones.
^REUTERS@
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html