Women, beware the coming hype about a “miracle” breast cancer prevention drug

Don’t get the party started

Breast cancer researchers threw a party recently.

They were celebrating and high-fiving like crazy over a drug that appears to help prevent breast cancer in post-menopausal women. AND it appears to have minimal side effects.

Now that’s truly amazing! In fact, it sounds too good to be true.

And you know what that means: It’s probably not true.

Two ways to look at it

Exemestane is a breast cancer drug that’s been around for awhile — better known by the brand name Aromasin. Recently, a team from Massachusetts General Hospital reported on their test of Aromasin as a breast cancer prevention.

The study (which appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, along with a glowing editorial) suggests that Aromasin can significantly cut the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women who are at an increased risk for breast cancer.

That sounds pretty impressive. But before doctors start handing out this drug like packs of Gummi Bears, there are a few critical details every woman needs to be aware of.

First, your doctor may tell you that Aromasin cut breast cancer risk by more than half in post-menopausal women. And technically, that’s true.

But here’s a somewhat less impressive way of looking at the same results: According to New Scientist, if 94 menopausal women take Aromasin for three years, one case of breast cancer would be prevented.

So it looks like chances are very good that the drug will have no beneficial effect on most women at all.

Meanwhile, researchers are raving about how safe Aromasin proved to be. There were “no serious toxic effects” and only “minimal changes in health-related quality of life.”

And that IS pretty safe when you compare it to a drug like tamoxifen which has side effects like blood clots, stroke, and uterine cancer.

But of course, when it’s YOUR quality of life, the changes may seem less minimal.

Generally, it seems Aromasin may exacerbate or increase side effects normally associated with menopause.

For instance, out of 2,240 who took Aromasin and 2,248 who took placebo, there were 900 cases of hot flashes reported in the Aromasin group, and 718 reported in the placebo group.

Insomnia: 230 cases in the Aromasin group — 189 in the placebo group.

Diarrhea: 188 in Aromasin — 75 in placebo.

Arthritis: 247 in Aromasin — 196 in placebo.

Back pain: 306 in Aromasin — 222 in placebo.

So for a 1 in 94 chance of avoiding breast cancer over three years, you could increase your chances of experiencing other symptoms from 21% to more than 150%.

Beware the coming hype! Anyone who tells you that Aromasin is a magic bullet of breast cancer prevention with hardly any side effects to speak of is basically wishing it to be true.

Sources:
“Exemestane for Breast-Cancer Prevention in Postmenopausal Women” New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 364, 6/23/11, nejm.org

“‘Statins’ for cancer could prevent many breast cancers” Andy Coghlan, New Scientist, 6/22/11, newscientist.com