femara vs arimidex

[river1980]

Is it true while Arimidex/ Anastrazole has no effect on overall survival ( in early breast cancer ) Femara has a postive effect? I saw a canadian research admittedly published by Novartis - I was told are makers of femara. I  have been advised to change from tamoxifen to either of those. I am fifty years old and my estrogen ( estradiol) levels are less than 50. ( I live in the UK by the way. I am not sure if we use the same units of measurements as the US. I cannot choose between them. If this paper is true then there is a true advantage of Femara.


This discussion is related to Arimidex and weight gain.

[japdip]

There is no clinical evidence that one is more effective than the other. Tamoxifen is used for Pre-menopausal women and the switch is made to an aromatase inhibitor after menopause (Arimidex or Femara). The purpose of all three drugs is to lessen the posibility of recurrance of ER/PR positive cancers which to me is a different meaning than "survival". I think the fact that the study was done my the manufacturer of the drug might be a clue as to it's questionable results.  Some women switch between the two depending on the side effects they experience; pt.s often tolerate one better than the other.   Regards ....