Eli Lilly responds to results of STAR trial comparing Evista with tamoxifen

US drug major Eli Lilly says that the results of the National Cancer Institutes STAR (Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene) trial represent an important milestone in cancer research. The study, which was funded by the US National Cancer Institute and conducted by members of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel project, was a comparative assessment of Lilly's drug Evista (raloxifene) and AstraZeneca's Nolvadex (tamoxifen) in the treatment of postmenopausal breast cancer.

5-year STAR study produces positive findings

The trial enrolled 19,747 postmenopausal women who were at increased risk of breast cancer due to a family history of the condition, personal medical history, age at first menstrual period and age at first live birth.The enrolees were randomly assigned to either 60mg of raloxifene or 20mg tamoxifen daily for a period of five years. Analysis of the data showed that the number of cases of invasive breast cancer among the two groups was statistically equivalent, 167 events in the 9,745 strong raloxifene cohort in comparison with the 163 in the 9,726 women treated with tamoxifen. In addition, patients in the raloxifene group experienced 29% fewer cases of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism than those who were treated with tamoxifen.