Tamoxifen: a most unlikely pioneering medicine

For more than 25 years, tamoxifen has been the gold standard for the endocrine treatment of all stages of oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, and the World Health Organization lists tamoxifen as an essential drug for the treatment of breast cancer. It is estimated that more than 400,000 women...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature reviews. Drug discovery Vol. 2; no. 3; pp. 205 - 213
Main Author Jordan, V. Craig
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Nature Publishing Group 01.03.2003
Subjects
Animals
Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal - history
Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal - pharmacology
Breast cancer
Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy
Drug Design
Drug therapy
Drugs
Estrogen Antagonists - adverse effects
Estrogen Antagonists - history
Estrogen Antagonists - pharmacology
Female
Health aspects
History, 20th Century
Humans
Prevention
Product development
Tamoxifen
Tamoxifen - adverse effects
Tamoxifen - history
Tamoxifen - pharmacology
United Kingdom
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Summary:For more than 25 years, tamoxifen has been the gold standard for the endocrine treatment of all stages of oestrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, and the World Health Organization lists tamoxifen as an essential drug for the treatment of breast cancer. It is estimated that more than 400,000 women are alive today as a result of tamoxifen therapy, and millions more have benefited from palliation and extended disease-free survival. Interestingly, tamoxifen also became the first cancer chemopreventive approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the reduction of breast-cancer incidence in both pre- and post-menopausal women at high risk. However, 40 years ago, it was hard to imagine that a non-toxic targeted treatment for breast cancer could be developed at all.
ISSN:1474-1776
1474-1784
DOI:10.1038/nrd1031