News : Bone drugs help prevent breast cancer

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New results from a landmark women’s health study raise the exciting possibility that bone-building drugs such as Fosamax and Actonel may help prevent breast cancer.

The study is not enough to prove that these drugs, called bisphosphonates, prevent cancer. More definitive studies should give a clearer answer in a year or two.

The cancer conference is sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, Baylor College of Medicine and the UT Health Science Center.

However, women taking bisphosphonates were more likely to develop a noninvasive tumor of the milk duct called DCIS.

The only drugs approved now for preventing breast cancer in healthy women at higher risk are the hormone blockers tamoxifen and raloxifene.