Two cheap generic drugs can cut breast cancer deaths

The most powerful regimen against breast cancer since tamoxifen has been discovered by researchers at the University of Oxford, and it's a combination of two available, inexpensive generic drugs called aromatase inhibitors and bisphosphonates.The current study combined results from 31,920 women in nine clinical trials. It showed that taking aromatase inhibitors for five years reduced the risk of postmenopausal women with ER-positive breast cancer dying from their disease by 40 per cent within 10 years of starting treatment, compared with no hormonal treatment. Women who took tamoxifen for five years reduced their risk by 30 percent."Aromatase inhibitors remove only the tiny amount of estrogen that remains in the circulation of women after the menopause, but that's enough to have a substantial impact on a wide range of ER-positive tumors" said Mitch Dowsett, the study's lead author.