For patients who have been taking the drug tamoxifen -- the world’s most commonly prescribed breast cancer treatment -- it pays to switch to a newer anti-cancer drug after two or three years, according to preliminary results released on Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. The Pfizer-financed study found that women recovering from breast cancer lowered their chance of developing another tumor by 32 percent if they switched to Pfizer Inc.'s drug, exemestane, after two or three years of tamoxifen treatment.
