( FRIMLEY SURREY England April 30 20...)Newly Published Study Reveals Femara Improves Chances for Harder to,Treat Early Breast Cancer Relapse in Postmenopausal Women,Health

FRIMLEY, SURREY, England, April 30, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

- Femara reduces the risk of breast cancer spreading to the lungs, the brain or the bone which has a worse prognosis than when the cancer is localised to the breast

Newly published data in the May issue of Annals of Oncology, Oxford University Press show that after two years of post-surgical therapy, postmenopausal women with hormone-sensitive early breast cancer treated with Femara experienced 30 percent fewer early breast cancer recurrences at sites away from the breast (distant metastases) compared with tamoxifen(1).

The spread of breast cancer to other parts of the body means that it is extremely likely that a woman will die from the disease(2). Recurrences that occur locally, regionally, or in the opposite breast (contra-lateral) are more easily treated than those that spread far from the original tumour, and they are associated with better long-term outcomes(3,4).

In the retrospective analysis of more than 7,700 women at a median follow-up of two years, approximately 75 percent of early recurrences occurred at distant sites such as bone or vital organs. However, there were 30 percent fewer distant recurrences in the Femara group than in the tamoxifen group (87 vs. 125, respectively)(1).

Maria Leadbeater, Secondary Breast Cancer Nurse Specialist at Breast Cancer Care commented, "Breast Cancer Care speaks to women with breast cancer daily and knows that they welcome any treatment development that could help to reduce the likelihood of their cancer recurring. Having been treated for breast cancer the first time round, one of the greatest fears is that the disease might return. These findings confirm earlier results from this trial, and suggest that Femara may be a treatment option for postmenopausal women with early breast cancer that could help reduce the risk of this happening to them."

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