Tamoxifen is an oral selective estrogen receptor modulator which is used in breast cancer treatment, and is currently the world's largest selling breast cancer treatment. It is used for the treatment of early and advanced breast cancer in pre- and post-menopausal women. It is also approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the reduction of the incidence of breast cancer in women at high risk of developing the disease. It has been further approved for the reduction of contralateral (in the opposite breast) breast cancer.
Tamoxifen was invented by ICI Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca) and is sold under the brand names Nolvadex, Istubal, and Valodex. It is also available as a generic drug in a number of countries. In the United States and other countries, Tamoxifen was almost always referred to by its generic name even before its patents expired.
A rare condition occasionally treated with tamoxifen is retroperitoneal fibrosis.
Tamoxifen is sometimes used to treat gynecomastia in men. Tamoxifen is also used by bodybuilders in a steroid cycle to try and prevent or reduce drug-induced gynecomastia caused by steroids that are used in the same cycle.
Tamoxifen is also used to treat infertility in women with anovulatory disorders. A dose of 10-40 mg per day is administered in days 3-7 of a woman's cycle.
On April 17, 2006, it was announced that raloxifene is equally effective in reducing the incidence of breast cancer, but caused fewer side effects. [http://www.nsabp.pitt.edu/STAR/Index.asp
Selective estrogen receptor modulators | Chemopreventive agents | AstraZeneca | Cancer treatments
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