Free Republic

WHAT if there was growing evidence that an already-existing drug, taken daily, might dramatically reduce the risk of breast cancer? Shouldn't that be more newsworthy than fund-raising walkathons done in the quixotic pursuit of a simple cure? More noteworthy than the latest lab test which classifies an environmental chemical as a rodent carcinogen? U.S. scientists, led by Harvard's Dr. Peter Goss, this week began recruiting women at high risk of breast cancer to participate in a study of what may well be just such a drug. That "chemical prevention" of cancer has come so far will be a shock to...

Drugs that completely block estrogen can lower the risk of breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women after surgery, according to the latest study to suggest that some women can improve their chances of recovering from breast cancer with aromatase inhibitors. The study followed more than 4,700 women who took tamoxifen, the most common treatment for preventing recurrences of breast cancer. But women who switched to the estrogen-blocker exemestane two and a half years later cut their chances of developing another tumor by a third. Taking exemestane, which is sold under the brand name aromasin by Pfizer, also provided better protection...