Those who have a family history of cancer are the first on the list

Jan 15, 2013 21:31 GMT  ·  By
Healthy women in the UK could soon start taking cancer preventative medicine
   Healthy women in the UK could soon start taking cancer preventative medicine

Researchers working with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the United Kingdom are now trying to figure out whether or not, medically speaking, it would make sense to administer cancer preventative medication to thousands of women who run the risk of developing this medical condition.

Seeing how treating cancer is still a highly challenging task, the idea that one could keep it from affecting an individual in the first place seems noteworthy, to say the least.

The two drugs these researchers are now investigating as potential cancer preventative medication are tamoxifen and raloxifene, both of which have supposedly performed quite well in clinical trials, Daily Mail reports.

Thus, as far as tamoxifen is concerned, international trials have shown that, when administered on a daily basis, it only takes about five years for it to reduce a person's risk of developing breast cancer by as much as one third.

On the other hand, raloxifene was also found to reduce the risk of breast cancer to a considerable extent.

The specialists who carried out these clinical trials claim that, all things considered, the preventative effects of these two drugs can last for up to 20 years.

Despite the fact that this proposal targets women who have a high risk of developing various forms of cancer first and foremost, it seems that UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence are also looking into the possibility of administering said cancer preventative medication to individuals whose risk of developing this medical condition is only a moderate one.

"Nice’s [i.e. The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence] support for preventive drugs could encourage clinicians, it will give them more confidence when talking to women at high risk about their options," stated breast cancer specialist Professor Michael Baum.

Backing up this statement, researcher Chris Askew argued as follows: "It is the first time drugs have ever been recommended for reducing breast cancer risk in the UK."

"This is exciting as, even though most women do not have a significant family history of the disease, it’s crucial that those who do have an array of options to help control their risk."