St Gallen guidelines recommend switch from tamoxifen to an AI for HER2 breast cancer

A consensus report issued by the world's leading breast cancer experts has confirmed the value of switching from tamoxifen to an aromatase inhibitor for the adjuvant treatment of post-menopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer.

According to the 2007 St Gallen International Expert Consensus on the Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer, published in the August 2 edition of the Annals of Oncology, switching from tamoxifen to an AI has the potential to save lives among those with the condition.

Approximately 360,000 women in Europe are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. With up to two thirds of these caused by tumors requiring the hormone estrogen to grow, medicines such as exemestane are crucial for women affected by this disease, because they work by interfering with the supply of estrogen to the cancer and preventing it from growing, the report noted.