Careful Steps toward Better Therapies, BioDimentions Vol. The Case of Breast Cancer Prevention Carefully constructed clinical trials have been behind virtually every medical advance during the past half-century. Their impact has been enormous. For instance, the University of Connecticut's Dr. Kurtzman, who is also medical director of its Breast Health Center, directed a trial site for a breast cancer prevention study of tamoxifen, a previously approved medication for treating breast cancer. The trial was designed to learn whether taking tamoxifen could actually prevent breast cancer in healthy women who were at high risk for developing the disease because of age, health and family history factors.
Tamoxifen is the first approved medication for the prevention of breast cancer.
A new trial involving 300 Connecticut women begins this spring to study raloxiphene, a medication which is believed to have preventive properties.