Hope for women as breast cancer drug prevents relapses

A BREAST cancer drug which prevents relapses and the return of tumours will offer new hope to women living with cancer after other treatments have expired, the Irish Cancer Society said yesterday.

A spokesperson for the charity welcomed as “encouraging” results of clinical trials in Canada which found the drug, Femara, reduced the risk of death by 39% in women who took it, compared with women who took a placebo.

The news will be particularly relevant for women who have completed the standard five years of tamoxifen therapy. Tamoxifen works well in the treatment of oestrogen-receptor tumours, but women can become intolerant to it and are generally advised to come off it after five years.