Pfizer's Aromasin cuts endometiral thickening in breast cancer

USA-based drug major Pfizer says that data from a study examining its steroidal aromatase inhibitor Aromasin (exemestane) in the treatment of early breast cancer, show that the drug is five times less likely to cause endometrial thickening, which can lead to uterine cancer, than tamoxifen. The findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.

The results, which are derived from a sub-study population of 158 subjects from the wider TEAM trial, show that 11 patients experienced endometrial thickening in the group that received Aromasin, compared with 45 members of the tamoxifen arm. In addition, time-to-endometiral thickening was significantly-greater in the Aromasin cohort, with a risk reduction of 84%.

Lead investigator Dirk Kieback, head of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Helios-Klinikum Aue in Germany, said that "thickening of the endometrium can be the first stage of endometrial cancer, as well as causing other side-effects such as bleeding." He added that the sub-analysis findings would provide physicians with data to support the development of treatment strategies for early breast cancer.