| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 21, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| BUSINESSWEEK LIFESTYLE
A Huge Cancer Test Needs Volunteers In a dramatic new tactic in the war against cancer, U.S. and Canadian researchers are recruiting 22,000 women for a seven-year clinical trial to see if drugs can prevent breast cancer. Called the Study of Tamoxifen & Raloxifene (STAR) and sponsored by the National Cancer Institutes (NCI), the trial will try to determine which of these two drugs that mimic estrogen may be the most effective preventive. STAR follows a 13,000-patient, five-year clinical trial of tamoxifen, marketed as Nolvadex, that ended last year. The trial found that the drug, used for 20 years to treat breast cancer after surgery, also cut the risk by half for high-risk women who hadn't gotten the disease. ''Tamoxifen is a medically proven intervention, but is not perfect,'' says Dr. Leslie Ford, the NCI researcher overseeing the STAR trial. Raloxifene, sold as Evista, was approved in 1997 for treatment of osteoporosis but may also prevent breast cancer. Some 400 medical centers are involved in STAR. All need volunteers. Interested women must be over 35, postmenopausal, and have a higher cancer risk determined by several factors. They will get one of the two drugs daily for five years, plus regular exams. For information call the Cancer Information Service: 800 422-6237. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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RELATED ITEMS Baffling Advances against Breast Cancer TABLE: Breast Cancer Resources A Huge Cancer Test Needs Volunteers INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
