British medical experts have provided further support for new breast cancer drugs called aromatase inhibitors.
The drugs, marketed here as Arimidex and Femara, are suitable for post-menopausal women with hormone-driven cancer.
The drugs are fully-funded in New Zealand only for women with terminal cancer and for early breast cancer patients who cannot tolerate tamoxifen.
The drugs’ manufacturers pick up part-charges for women with early breast cancer for whom the drug is not fully-funded.
The UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence says the drugs are suitable for treating early breast cancer and more effective than the current gold standard treatment, tamoxifen.
It also found the drugs were of most benefit to high risk patients, reducing the chance of the cancer returning by 29 percent, and by 42 percent in patients who switched to aromatase inhibitors after five years of tamoxifen.
Source: News Wire
