YEAR STAR TRIAL SHOWED. "WOMEN WHO WERE PROSPECTIVELY AND RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO TAKE RALOXIFENE DAILY, AND WHO WERE FOLLOWED FOR AN AVERAGE OF ABOUT FOUR YEARS, HAD 36 PERCENT FEWER UTERINE CANCERS AND 29 PERCENT FEWER BLOOD CLOTS THAN THE WOMEN WHO WERE ASSIGNED TO TAKE TAMOXIFEN," THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, WHICH HELPED ORGANIZE THE TRIAL, SAID. BOTH DRUGS COME AS PILLS AND BOTH MIMIC THE EFFECTS OF THE HORMONE ESTROGEN ON CELLS, ALTHOUGH IN A WAY THAT APPEARS TO BE SAFER THAN ESTROGEN ITSELF. ESTROGEN IS LINKED TO MOST BREAST CANCER CASES. BOTH DRUGS ALSO REDUCE THE RISK OF OSTEOPOROSIS. THE BONE-THINNING DISEASE BECOMES MUCH MORE COMMON AFTER WOMEN ENTER MENOPAUSE, AS DO CANCER, STROKE AND HEART DISEASE. STAR WAS ONE OF THE LARGEST BREAST CANCER PREVENTION CLINICAL TRIALS EVER CONDUCTED, WITH 19,747 POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN RANDOMLY GIVEN A DAILY DOSE OF EVISTA OR NOLVADEX FOR FIVE YEARS. "WOMEN TAKING EITHER DRUG HAD EQUIVALENT NUMBERS OF STROKES, HEART ATTACKS, AND BONE FRACTURES," THE NCI SAID. AMONG THE 9,745 WOMEN IN THE RALOXIFENE GROUP, 167 DEVELOPED INVASIVE BREAST CANCER, COMPARED TO 163 OF 9,726 WOMEN IN THE TAMOXIFEN GROUP.
