New hope for advanced breast cancer
12 July 2001
A new study has given fresh hope to postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer. The study resulted in letrozole (brand name Femara) being approved for first-line treatment of advanced breast cancer, after it was found to be superior to tamoxifen, the most widely used treatment for advanced breast cancer.
The study, published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, is the largest single multinational trial to date comparing a hormonal treatment with tamoxifen for advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women. More than 900 women in 29 countries were involved.
The study found letrozole to be consistently superior to tamoxifen in both response rates and its ability to delay the progression of the disease.
Dr David Grimes, Director of Oncology at Brisbane’s Wesley Medical Centre, said: 'The new indication for letrozole is good news for postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer because the trial showed a clear and dramatic benefit over tamoxifen.
‘A larger number of women experienced tumour reduction and, more importantly, their cancer was controlled for longer with letrozole.’
The researchers commented that an agent such as letrozole for use in first-line advanced breast cancer was ‘a significant therapeutic advance’.
Letrozole is only suitable for oestrogen-dependent tumours—these are cancers that are stimulated to grow by oestrogen. Letrozole is a type of medication called an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase inhibitors are anti-oestrogens that reduce the body's production of oestrogen, thus leaving less oestrogen to stimulate the cancer.
Every year, about 1700 Australian women are newly diagnosed with advanced breast cancer while 1000 additional women develop the advanced form of the disease after an initial diagnosis of early breast cancer. Of the one in 11 Australian women who will develop breast cancer in their lifetime about 75 per cent will be postmenopausal.
Last Reviewed: 23 July 2001
