On Sept. 14, 1998, researchers from the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) published a full report and update of the study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The BCPT showed a 49 percent reduction in breast cancer incidence among the high-risk participants who took tamoxifen (Nolvadex®, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Wilmington, Del.), a drug used for the past two decades to treat breast cancer.

Launched in April 1992, the BCPT also looked at whether taking tamoxifen decreased the number of heart attacks and reduced the number of certain common types of bone fractures in these women.