What is tamoxifen?
Tamoxifen is a drug, taken by mouth as a pill. It has been used for more than 20 years to treat patients with breast cancer. Tamoxifen works against breast cancer, in part, by interfering with the activity of estrogen, a female hormone that promotes the growth of breast cancer cells. In October 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tamoxifen to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in women at high risk of the disease based on the results of the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT). The BCPT is a study of more than 13,000 pre- and postmenopausal high-risk women ages 35 and older who took either tamoxifen or a placebo (an inactive pill that looked like tamoxifen) for up to five years. NSABP conducted the BCPT, which also showed that tamoxifen works like estrogen to preserve bone strength, decreasing fractures of the hip, wrist, and spine in the women who took the drug. Findings from the BCPT were reported in the September 16, 1998, issue of the Journal of the Natio
Tamoxifen is a drug commonly used to help treat (and in some case instances, prevent) breast cancer. By blocking estrogen in the breast, tamoxifen helps slow the growth and reproduction of breast cancer cells. For decades, tamoxifen has been used to help treat advanced breast cancer. More recently, it has been used to treat early stage breast cancer after breast surgery (lumpectomy or mastectomy). Common side effects of tamoxifen include hot flashes, irregular menstrual cycles, unusual vaginal discharge or bleeding, and irritation of skin around vagina.
