Femara belongs to the class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors. According to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, Femara is a better treatment for early stages of breast cancer than tamoxifen. Femara does not have the side affects associated with Tamoxifen either. These side effects have included endometrial cancer, and potentially fatal blood clots.
"Five years of treatment with tamoxifen reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 47 percent and the risk of death by 26 percent," according to Dr. Beat Thurlimann and colleagues. "Despite these benefits, about half the women so treated relapse.” Women past menopause now have a better option to treat early-stage breast cancer, with the approval of a Femara, a drug aimed at staving off recurrences.
The study published today found some problems with Femara. The Swiss researchers with teams in the United States and Australia found that women taking Femara were more likely to experience osteoporosis, higher levels of cholesterol and possible heart problems. The team studied 8,010 women.
The FDA decision will allow Novartis to market the drug to post –menopausal women with early hormone-positive breast cancer, or to patients whose cancer depends on estrogen to grow. The treatment begins right after surgery. This is known as early adjuvant setting therapy and is a systemic approach to fighting microscopic metastatic disease after surgical resection of the primary tumor.
The BBC also reported that Nigel Bundred, a professor in surgical oncology at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, said: "These results are fantastic news and give hope to women with breast cancer - especially those at high risk of their cancer recurring.
"They show that Femara is more effective than tamoxifen when given to women after surgery and offers even greater advantages to these particularly vulnerable women."