Good Effects of Tamoxifen

Tamoxifen is a therapeutic agent often used to treat and to prevent breast cancer. Tamoxifen is also used to relieve symptoms of bipolar disorder and to treat infertility.

Effects On Breast Cancer

• Since the 1980s, tamoxifen has been used as a chemotherapy agent for early-stage breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, tamoxifen is particularly effective against estrogen-receptor-positive tumors because it blocks activities of estrogen, a female hormone. Estrogen promotes growth of breast tumors. Use of tamoxifen reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 50 percent.

  In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of tamoxifen as a chemopreventive agent for women who have not developed breast cancer but have a five-year risk of breast cancer higher than 1.66 percent. The cancer society reports that several clinical trials have demonstrated that tamoxifen use reduces the risk of developing breast cancer in high-risk patients by 40 to 50 percent.

Other Positive Effects

• Tamoxifen can be used to induce ovulation. According to Women's Health Resource, roughly two-thirds of women who take tamoxifen for infertility treatment will ovulate. Their chances of getting pregnant will be improved by 30 to 35 percent.

  Tamoxifen leads to a decrease in the risk of osteoporotic fractures. In a University of Manitoba study reported in the "Journal of Clinical Oncology" on Nov. 10, 2008, Andrew L. Cooke and colleagues found that use of tamoxifen was associated with a 32 percent reduction in overall osteoporotic fracture risk and a 53 percent reduction in hip fractures.

  Tamoxifen is also used to treat mania symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder.

Significance

• For women in America, the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is 13 percent. Every year, there are at least 200,000 new cases of breast cancer. Use of tamoxifen has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of breast cancer.

Cost

• A month's supply of tamoxifen costs about $100.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

• Tamoxifen therapy is not highly cost-effective in terms of extending life expectancy. An analysis by researchers at the University of California-Davis reported in the Sept. 1, 2006, edition of the journal "Cancer" showed that for every year of life saved nationwide by tamoxifen use, the cost is more than $1.3 million. This is because although tamoxifen reduces the incidence of breast cancer, not all breast cancers are fatal. Forty to 50 percent of breast cancers are detected at Stage I, which has a five-year survival rate of 95 to 98 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.