That made tamoxifen the first drug found to prevent cancer, although it is not yet clear if the protection is permanent. Researchers believe that the medication they are about to study, called raloxifene, may also decrease a woman's risk for developing breast cancer. Peter Jochimsen, M.D., UI professor of surgery and a surgical oncologist with University of Iowa Health Care, and Keith Wright, M.D., of Oncology Associates in Cedar Rapids, will serve as the study's principal investigators in eastern Iowa. We need to test it scientifically. We hope raloxifene will eventually prove to be as effective as tamoxifen in preventing breast cancer, while also perhaps having the added advantage that it will not increase the risk for cancer of the endometrium.
Tamoxifen has an effect upon the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium.
That effect can result in endometrial cancer, but when it is diagnosed in the early stages, the cure rate is high. Preliminary studies indicate that raloxifene doesn't appear to increase the risk of endometrial cancer. Raloxifene has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of bone loss, a process called osteoporosis, leading to reduction in fractures of the hip, wrist and spine. It also appears to protect women from heart disease. STAR should give us those answers that are so important for protecting the health of women.