Comparative economic analysis of aromatase inhibitors and tamoxifen in the treatment of hormone-dependent breast cancer

Within the past 2 years three separate groups reported marked improvements in relapse-free survival when trastuzumab was added to adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer. Notwithstanding the significance of this molecular target, the discovery of the estrogen receptor (ER) may be of even greater importance. Although tamoxifen has long been considered the hormonal therapy of choice for patients with estrogen-responsive breast cancer, accumulating clinical data suggest the new generation of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) is more effective and less toxic. With the availability of new information, guidelines have been updated and reformulated regarding the use of AIs as first-line hormonal therapy in postmenopausal women with ER-positive breast cancer. This paper, a product of the ongoing advances in oncology, incorporates two distinct, yet important, features of oncology; first, clinical concepts related to hormone-dependent breast cancer and second, pharmacoeconomic evaluation of the antiestrogen tamoxifen and the new generation of antiaromatase agents.