Early Breast Cancer: Treatment After 2 to 3 Years of Tamoxifen

Important Safety Information

AROMASIN® (exemestane tablets) is a prescription medicine for the adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive early breast cancer. Treatment with AROMASIN should begin after 2 to 3 years of tamoxifen, at which time tamoxifen should be discontinued. Treatment with AROMASIN should continue for 2 to 3 years (until the completion of a total of 5 years of adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen and AROMASIN).

Do not take AROMASIN if you are pregnant. Do not take AROMASIN unless you have gone through menopause. Do not take it with a drug that has estrogen. Let your doctor know of any medications or supplements you are taking.

During a clinical trial comparing AROMASIN and tamoxifen, common side effects for AROMASIN and tamoxifen included hot flashes (21.2% on AROMASIN, 19.9% on tamoxifen), fatigue (16.1%, 14.7%), and joint pain (14.6%, 8.6%). They also included headache (13.1%, 10.8%), insomnia (12.4%, 8.9%), and increased sweating (11.8%, 10.4%).

A more serious side effect of AROMASIN was osteoporosis (4.6%, 2.8%). A small number of women experienced chest pain or chest discomfort (1.6%, 0.6%), or heart failure (0.4%, 0.3%).

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