Raloxifene and the prevention of breast cancer

In 1998, tamoxifen became the first drug to be FDA approved for use as a preventive agent against cancer, when it was shown to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in women at increased risk for the disease by 49% in the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT). A second prevention trial, the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) compared the proven preventive agent tamoxifen with raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator that had been suggested to have a preventive benefit with fewer side effects. The results of STAR show that raloxifene is equivalent to tamoxifen in the prevention of invasive breast cancer. When raloxifene becomes FDA approved for breast cancer risk reduction, postmenopausal women will have a second option to reduce their risk.