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`San Antonio Express-News: Document Display
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`San Antonio Express-News
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`September 20, 1997
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`New drug being tested in breast cancer study
`Don Finley Express—NewS Medical Writer
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`What researchers describe as a promising new drug to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer is being tested
`in women in San Antonio and across North America.
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`In laboratory experiments and in a small, preliminary European study, the drug seems to work better than
`existing treatments for the many women who eventually become resistant to tamoxifen, the first-line treatment.
`
`Perhaps more significantly, the new drug, called Faslodex, appears to be more powerful than tamoxifen itself -
`at least in the test tube, said the San Antonio researcher heading the study.
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`"It's very early in its development, but based on what we've seen so far, it's a very exciting drug," said Dr. C.
`Kent Osborne, chief of medical oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center.
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`Millions of women around the world take tamoxifen both to prevent breast cancer from returning after surgery
`and to treat breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. These cancers depend on the hormone
`estrogen to grow.
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`But in many patients, the cancer cells become resistant to tamoxifen. All women whose cancer has spread
`become resistant, usually within a year or two, Osborne said.
`
`At that point, doctors turn to second-line, anti-estrogen drugs such as anastrozole, which was approved last year
`and is sold under the brand name Arimidex. When women become resistant to the second—line drugs, the only
`alternative is chemotherapy.
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`In the British study of 19 tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer patients, 67 percent saw improvement in their
`disease, including some complete remissions.
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`That response, Osborne said, "is much higher than you would expect from other forms of second— line hormonal
`therapies in breast cancer patients.
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`"I actually have been studying it in my lab for a number of years, comparing it to other forms of hormonal
`therapy like tamoxifen, and in our experimental models, it's much better than tamoxifen," he said.
`
`Between 600 and 800 post-menopausal women with tamoxifen-resistant metastatic breast cancer will
`participate in the study at about 50 medical centers in the United States and Canada.
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`The study first will compare Faslodex to anastrozole. If it does well, it will be studied against tamoxifen,
`Osborne said.
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`For information about the study, call 616-5798.
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`In an unusual footnote, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, a British company sponsoring the study, owns all three drugs -
`tamoxifen, anastrozole and Faslodex.
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