IBIS 1

This United Kingdom based study is testing whether the drug tamoxifen can prevent breast cancer in women at elevated risk for breast cancer (mostly due to a strong family history of the disease).  

Results to date show the protective effect of tamoxifen against the development of breast cancer continues for 5 years after the treatment has been completed.

For hormone sensitive breast cancer, the reduction was 27% during the active treatment phase (years 0-5) and an additional 43% in the follow-up phase (years 5-10). 

Overall findings so far from IBIS 1 give good news for using tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer in women at high risk of developng the disease.   However, at present, the drug is not approved to be used for this purpose in New Zealand.