Clinical studies have also shown that aromatase inhibitors are associated with fewer serious side effects than tamoxifen, the only other drug available to women for primary breast cancer prevention.
"While tamoxifen has already been shown to reduce the incidence of primary breast cancer, many women choose not to take this drug because of its known side effects," says Dr. Goss, also Director of Breast Cancer Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Results of this study will provide women with important information about another potentially effective tool for breast cancer prevention."
Women enrolled in the ExCel research study will be randomized to one of two groups and all will take one pill per day for five years. Group A will take exemestane and Group B will take a placebo. Women will participate in two follow-up visits during the first year at six and 12 months and then an annual follow-up visit during years two through five.
Women will have a screening visit with a member of the study's clinical staff to see if they are eligible for the trial. If eligible, they will undergo a routine health examination, routine blood tests, a mammogram and a bone mineral density test.
The National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG), based at Queen's University in Kingston Ontario, is working in cooperation with physicians in Canada, the U.S. and Spain to coordinate the ExCel research study.
Founded in 1971 and funded by the Canadian Cancer Society, the NCIC CTG develops, conducts and analyz
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Contact: Samantha Kaplan
samantha.kaplan@edelman.com
312-297-7439
Edelman Public Relations
30-Mar-2005