(UPDATE) Drug prevents half of breast cancer

[UPI]

Drug prevents half of breast cancer
(NOTE: NCI press briefing scheduled for 1 p.m. EST)
UPI Science News

WASHINGTON, April 6 1998 - Women at high risk of breast cancer can
cut their chances of getting the disease nearly in half by taking the
drug tamoxifen, says a new study.

An analysis of some of the data was so dramatic that the National
Cancer Institute (NCI) has decided stop the study two years early and
offer the drug to all women involved in the trial, instead of giving
some participants dummy pills, it was reported Sunday by The
Philadelphia Inquirer.

The analysis showed that tamoxifen can cut the rate of breast cancer
by 45 percent.

The NCI sent letters to the 13,000 women in the United States and
Canada who were participating in the reasearch, saying this ``the first
study in the world to show that a drug can reduce the incidence of
breast cancer.''

The study was halted briefly two years after it started because of
concerns that taking the drug might raise the risk of uterine cancer.
But scientists estimated that the benefits would outweigh the risks.
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Copyright 1998 by United Press International
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