Pfizer Inc. has received approval from the US FDA to market Aromasin (exemestane tablets) for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive early breast cancer following two-to-three years of tamoxifen for a completion of five consecutive years of adjuvant hormonal therapy.

The approval was based on the Intergroup Exemestane Study (IES) which showed that patients who switched to Aromasin after two-to-three years of tamoxifen, for a combined total of five years of therapy, had 31 per cent more protection from cancer recurrence than those who remained on five years of tamoxifen therapy, informs a company release.

"This new approval for Aromasin clearly provides physicians and patients a more effective way of protecting against cancer recurrence compared to the current treatment practice of five years of tamoxifen therapy," said Dr. Stephen Jones, medical director at US Oncology Research in Houston, Texas.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers occurring in women and the second leading cause of death from cancer in women, after lung cancer. Adjuvant therapy is treatment given following surgical removal of a primary tumor (the first tumor that occurs before it spreads to other parts of the body).