Breast decision.Breast decision The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug as a follow-up for certain women who have had breast cancer surgery. The treatment was endorsed last fall by a National Institutes of Health consensus conference. Despite advances in surgical and radiation treatment, breast cancer continues to kill about 38,000 U.S. women each year. The newly approved drug In the United States, the FDA approves drugs. Before a drug can be prescribed, it must undergo an extensive FDA approval process. This process involves first testing the drug on animals or in medical labs. . Stuart Pharmaceuticals' tamoxifen citrate tamoxifen citrate (t  mok´s , has been shown to decrease the rate of cancer spread and death in postmenopausal post·men·o·paus·aladj. Of or occurring in the time following menopause. postmenopausal Change of life Gynecology adjective Referring to the time in ♀ when menstrual periods stop for ≥ 1 yr women whose breat cancer cells depend on the hormone estrogen for growth. Tamxoifen works by blocking estrogen receptor estrogen receptor A protein of a superfamily of nuclear receptors for small hydrophilic ligands–eg, steroid hormones, thyroid hormone, vitamin D, retinoids; the presence of ERs in breast CA generally is associated with a better prognosis, as they respond to sites on breast cancer cells throughout the body. |
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