A study found that changing the way two drugs are taken can significantly extend the lives of women with metastatic breast cancer. Researchers at the CTRC-AACR Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio on Dec. 7, 2011, reported that patients taking anastrozole and fluvastatin in combination can live up to 6 months longer than taking the drugs sequentially. This will likely change the standard way we treat breast cancer,” said Dr. Kathy Albain of Loyola University Medical Center (co-first author of the paper, the other author being Dr. Rita Mehta of the University of California, Irvine). “Anastrozole (trade name: Renindezvous) is a daily tablet that belongs to the aromatase inhibitor class of drugs. It works by lowering estrogen in the body (estrogen promotes tumor growth). Fulvestrant (trade name: Faslodex) is an injectable drug. It binds to estrogen receptors, thus blocking the tumor-promoting effects of estrogen. This study included 707 women with metastatic breast cancer (estrogen receptor-positive). By way of randomization, about half of the patients received standard therapy: anastrozole first and then switching to fulvestrant after tumor progression. The other half of patients received both anastrozole and fulvestrant. The median survival of patients receiving standard therapy was 41.3 months. The median survival for patients receiving the combination therapy was 47.7 months. Tumor progression occurred after approximately 13.5 months in patients receiving standard therapy and after approximately 15 months in patients receiving combination therapy Patients receiving combination therapy were able to benefit more from this treatment modality if they had not been previously treated with tamoxifen. The side effects were similar for both therapies, although the most serious side effects were seen in the group of patients treated with the combination therapy (1 stroke and 2 pulmonary embolisms).