May 02, 2006

Overblown news about "breakthrough" breast cancer drug?

The April 17 release of some clinical trial data from the STAR trial, comparing raloxifene and tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer in high-risk postmenopausal women continues to be scrutinized - both for how and why the National Cancer Institute made its announcement and for how journalists covered the story.

The San Jose Mercury News profiles the response of San Francisco breast cancer specialist Laura Esserman, who says she doesn't think this comes anywhere close to being a "breakthrough." Others in this column describe the announcement as "overselling...overblown...misleading."

It's good to see the San Jose columnist scrutinize the facts and the evidence. It should have happened sooner and more often across the country on this story.

Posted by schwitz at May 2, 2006 09:22 AM | TrackBack
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