Raloxifene Reduces Risk Of Invasive Estrogen-Receptor Positive Breast Cancer

Women who took raloxifene were less likely to develop invasive estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancer compared with women who did not, according to data from a randomized controlled trial published online June 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The drug did not reduce the risk of non-invasive cancer or invasive ER-negative cancers. A previous analysis of data from the Raloxifene Use for the Heart (RUTH) trial, which enrolled women with coronary heart disease or those at an increased risk for the disease, showed that the drug did not protect against heart disease, which was one of the primary aims of the trial. But after a median follow up of 5.6 years, it did reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer by 44 percent...