Researchers from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project are conducting the study at more than 400 centers across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, including Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. The study is funded mainly by the National Cancer Institute, the U.S. government's main agency for cancer research.
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. Raloxifene is a drug, taken by mouth as a pill. The FDA approved it in 1997 for the prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Raloxifene is being studied because large studies testing its effectiveness against osteoporosis have shown that women taking the drug developed fewer breast cancers than women taking a placebo. Postmenopausal women at increased risk for developing breast cancer, and at least 35 years of age, can participate.