SCOPE Project Reaches Out to Minorities

PITTSBURGH—The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) is encouraging women from racial and ethnic minority groups to consider joining the group’s Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR).

The study will compare the proven benefits of tamoxifen (Nolvadex) in reducing the incidence of breast cancer in healthy high-risk women against the promising effects of raloxifene (Evista), which is FDA approved to prevent and treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Over a 5-year period, STAR will enroll 22,000 women. As of March 31, 2000, 4,598 women had joined and 4% are from a racial or ethnic minority group.

The NSABP has a special educational effort underway, SCOPE—the STAR Community Outreach Program for Education—to address myths in the minority community about breast cancer and to encourage more minority women to participate in clinical trials.