There has been a lot of hype made about the novel osteoporosis fighting drugs (bisphosphonates) used in post menopausal women. It was shown in an earlier study that some of these bone strengthening drugs could also prevent breast cancer. This excitement grew even more when it was actually observed that women who took these drugs were 33% less likely to develop breast cancer.
However, the latest study on the drug zometa shows that it did diddly squat. The drug did not prevent the breast cancer from returning nor did it extend life of women suffering from this cancer. In the present study done on 3,360 women in 7 countries with a follow-up of 5 years, zometa did not prevent extension of life nor did it prevent the cancer from occurring. The only positive finding was that zometa did cut down the of recurrence in a few patients. However, zometa also had a fair number of side effects which ranged from serious ulcers, jawbone decay and blood clots in the lung.
Based on this study it is now clear that these drugs should not be prescribed without a clear indication as they are not totally harmless.
Moreover, what is of even more importance (considering today's health crises) is that zometa costs more than $,1000 per infusion.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and there are roughly 200,000 new cases each year with 40,000 deaths in the USA. No significant break throughs have been made in breast cancer prevention. As far as the bisphosphonates are concerned, consumers should be aware that these drugs may prevent osteoporosis but there is no evidence that they can also reduce bone fractures.
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