Drug boosts breast cancer survival

A new treatment for breast cancer has proved to be more effective and safer than the commonly used drug tamoxifen, doctors will announce today.

The results from a British trial show that women who take Arimidex are five times less likely to develop cancer of the womb than those who take tamoxifen after surgery.

They are also less likely to develop vaginal bleeding, another serious side effect of tamoxifen which can be an early indicator of uterine cancer.

The findings were due to be presented to the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando, Florida, by Professor Mike Baum, who co-ordinated the UK part of the largest-ever study of early breast cancer.

Early results, reported in December, showed that women treated with Arimidex were 17 to 22 per cent less likely to have relapsed or died five years after surgery.

Breast cancer is one of the fastest rising cancers, with about 33,000 new cases in the UK each year.

Survival rates have improved since tamoxifen was introduced. But long-term use of the drug, to prevent breast tumours recurring after surgery, causes uterine cancer to develop in at least one in 200 patients.

Only one in 1,000 patients in the Arimidex trial developed cancer of the womb, which is the expected rate in older women.

The study, involving 3,000 British women and another 6,300 worldwide, showed that Arimidex halved the rate of other abnormalities of the womb.

Dr Jeffrey Tobias, a colleague of Professor Baum at University College Hospital, London, said the results were "the most exciting development in breast cancer" since tamoxifen was introduced.

The British manufacturer, AstraZeneca, is seeking a licence for early-stage use in Europe and the US.

* Other research to be presented in Orlando shows that the need for mastectomies in women with larger breast tumours can be halved if they take the drug Taxol before surgery.