Aromatase Inhibitors: Effective, Yet Possibly Hard to Obtain

A recent study suggests that taking drugs called aromatase inhibitors could be an effective, safer way of preventing breast cancer onset in high-risk women. 

In fact, the study said that taking aromatase inhibitors reduced risk by 65%. 

The study was conducted on over 4,500 high-risk women across the United States, Canada, France, and Spain by Canadian scientists. The results of the study were definitive early-on; 32 women taking placebos got cancer while only 11 on aromatase inhibitors, after just halfway through the study.

Aromasin, one of a few brands of aromatase inhibitor drug.

Aromatase inhibitors do not carry many of the side effects associated with other breast-cancer-preventing drugs, such as uterine cancer and blood clots. (However, some long-term effects are not known, and some doctors question medicating high-risk but otherwise perfectly healthy women.)

Sadly, high insurance copayments may be preventing women from obtaining this possibly life-saving drug. Studies show that women who pay high copays for AI treatment are more likely to stop the treatment prematurely.