Heart Institute Reduces Its Support For the Tamoxifen Prevention Trial

WASHINGTON--The NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)has reduced its support for the NCI's tamoxifen (Nolvadex) preventiontrial, saying that the enrollment may not produce useful cardiovasculardata.

Although the primary purpose of the trial is to determine tamoxifen'sability to prevent breast cancer in high-risk women, the trialalso hopes to show whether the agent can lower the risk of osteoporosisand myocardial death.

The NHLBI's director Claude Lenfant told the NCI that the enrollmentto date does not include enough women over age 55 or minoritywomen, populations that have an increased risk for cardiovasculardisease. The NHLBI, which had originally pledged $8 million towardthe study, will now put up only $3 million, $1.8 million of whichhas already been spent.