Female First talk exclusively to Jeffrey Tobias, a Professor of Clinical Oncology at UCH in London who helped trial the new drug

Being diagnosed with the disease is a devastating and upsetting time for women. It can inevitably change their lives and that of their loved ones forever as years of treatments, hospital visits and emotional strains await.

The new data means that there is hope on the horizon in the battle to prevent breast cancer returning after the patient’s first course of treatment.

An eight year study conducted by ATAC has found that anastrozole is significantly more effective than the commonly used drug tamoxifen in the fight against the killer disease.

The trial showed that women on this course of treatment were 24 per cent less likely to have their cancer return, compared with those taking tamoxifen.

The research is one of the largest and longest running investigations of its kind into this treatment. It focused on post-menopausal women with hormone receptor positive early cancer (HR+). This means they have breast cancer which relies on the female hormone oestrogen for its cells to grow.

grow.

Equally as devastating for women, after enduring the stress of treatment and being free of the disease for years, is discovering the cancer they thought was gone forever has come back.

A recent survey, conducted worldwide, showed that over 70 per cent of physicians found that telling a patient her cancer has returned is worse than giving a diagnosis of the disease.

Anastrozole is especially effective in fighting against the reoccurrence of cancer which often proves fatal as it can return anywhere in the body, meaning it is much harder to treat.

The results of the study show that even four years after a women's therapy ends, the protective effect of anastrozole in reducing the risk of the HR+ cancer returning continues to increase.

Jeffrey Tobias, a Professor of Clinical Oncology at UCH in London, and an investigator in the trail said: "It's not the primary tumour in the breast that is the biggest threat to the patient, after all it can be dealt with by surgery and radiotherapy.

"However, the problem with secondary cancer is that it can be anywhere is the body," he continued. "A secondary cancer can be in the brain, liver, lung or bone and once the cancer has spread from the initial primary site in the breast then the opportunity for any real cure has gone forever."

There are up to 40,000 new breast cancer cases in Britain every year and startling statistics show that more than 30 women die from the disease every day.

Around three quarters of these women are post-menopausal and over the age of 50, meaning the new treatment, which also has few side effects, will make a big impact in the fight against the disease.

Anastrozole has already been in use as an alternative treatment for to tamoxifen in some patients. This study shows that more women should be receiving anastrozole from the very beginning of their treatment to prevent their cancer coming back.

NICE, the independent national review organisation, has already approved anastrozole for use in this new way.

There have, of course, been many instances in the past when new and revolutionary drugs that could make a significant difference to the treatment of various illnesses have been restricted or limited because they are far too expensive or not deemed cost effective by the Government.

Although anastrozole is pricey, costing around £900 per year, this is much cheaper than many other drugs which can cost as much as £20,000 a year.

The risk of side effects and reoccurrence are also lower meaning the cost of further treatment, like chemotherapy, is reduced. In the long run the health service will have to fork out much less for the distribution of anastorzole than it will into investigating the prevention of adverse side effects.

Jeffrey Tobias thinks the drug is going to have a dramatic effect on the treatment of breast cancer and give hope to many women diagnosed with the disease.

"There are a number of unexpected advantages and I think it's going to give breast cancer patients a lot more hope in the future to at least have a choice between tamoxifen and anastrozole," he said. "I think for the majority of women in this situation anastrozole will prove to be, for them, a better bet."

Female First - Jacqueline Farrer

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