PITTSBURGH, April 18 (UPI) -- A Pittsburgh study has found an osteoporosis-preventive drug also appears to reduce a woman's chance of developing breast cancer.
Lawrence Wickerham of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project in Pittsburgh led the study of nearly 20,000 postmenopausal women.
They found raloxifene, sold under the brand name Evista, reduces their chance of developing breast cancer as effectively as tamoxifen, the only drug previously shown to reduce the risk. Raloxifen also was less likely to cause serious side effects such as uterine cancer and blood clots, the Washington Post reported.
Eli Lilly and Co. said it would ask the Food and Drug Administration to approve Evista for breast cancer prevention in postmenopausal women, but doctors are free to prescribe it for that purpose immediately, as the drug is already approved and marketed for osteoporosis.
Carolina Hinestrosa of the National Breast Cancer Coalition advocacy group said while promising, there needs to be more research done.
"All drugs have side effects. We want to avoid exposing women to powerful drugs unnecessarily," Hinestrosa said.
