Yale Cancer Center is recruiting volunteer participants for a study testing the effectiveness of a drug now used to prevent osteoporosis in also preventing breast cancer.
The STAR (Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene) Trial is a nationwide project aimed at enrolling 22,000 postmenopausal women at over 400 centers over a five-year period.
Dr. Donald Lannin, executive director of the Yale Breast Center and principal investigator for the STAR Trial at Yale, believes this clinical trial is monumental in its potential impact on the fight against breast cancer.
"Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in American women," says Lannin. "For the past few years, I have been working with female volunteers to determine whether the osteoporosis-preventing drug Raloxifene (Evista) is as, or more, effective than Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) in reducing the risk of breast cancer. I hope that our work together will lead to more effective reduction in the risk of breast cancer with fewer side effects."
Lannin is recruiting participants for the trial in conjunction with Dr. Andrea Silber, director of the Cancer Control & Early Detection Program of the Father Michael J. McGivney Center for Cancer Care at the Hospital of Saint Raphael.
Tamoxifen has been used for more than 20 years to treat patients with breast cancer. Raloxifene was approved in 1997 for the prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. The STAR trial was undertaken because women who had been taking Raloxifene when testing the drug's effectiveness for osteoporosis developed fewer incidences of breast cancers than those taking a placebo.
STAR is a study of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, a network of research professionals, and is supported by the National Cancer Institute. The study will examine whether Raloxifene is as effective as Tamoxifen in preventing invasive breast cancer in women who have not had the disease, and compare the relative benefits and side effects of the two drugs.
Women who participate in STAR must be postmenopausal, at least 35 years of age, and have an increased risk of breast cancer as determined by their age, family history of breast cancer, personal medical history, their age at their first menstrual period and their age at first live birth.
For more information about STAR or to enroll in the trial, call (203) 785-2328, (203) 867-5425 or (203) 737-5908.
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