EMBARGOED/FOR RELEASE AUGUST 23, 2004

For more information contact:                                                  

Beverly Goodwin Sousoulas

UTHSC Preventive Medicine

901-448-4280; bsousoulas@uthsc.edu

or

 

Elizabeth Maynard-Garrett, APR

UTHSC Communications, 448-4957.

UT Researchers Seek At-Risk Women for Breast Cancer Study

 

Memphis, TN (August 23, 2004) - Researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Department of Preventive Medicine are looking for postmenopausal women at increased risk for the development of breast cancer to participate in a research study. Known as the ExCel Breast Cancer Prevention study, researchers hope to determine if certain medications will prevent breast cancer.

To be eligible, participants must: (1) be 35 years or older, (2) have not been diagnosed or treated for cancer in the past five years, (3) have been post-menopausal for at least 12 months, and (4) have not had hormone replacement therapy for the past 12 months. Also, there may be some drugs such as hormones or steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications that participants are not allowed to take during the course of the study.

The National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group and Pfizer, Inc are sponsoring the ExCel study, which will include around 5,100 women from the United States, Canada and other countries. The study will take five years to complete and will be testing whether exemestane, either alone or with celecoxib, will reduce the rate of breast cancer in women at high risk for developing the disease. There is a 1-in-3 chance that a participant will receive only a placebo (a substance that does not do anything).

Principal investigator for the study at UTHSC is Karen Johnson, M.D., M.P.H., professor and vice chair for the Department of Preventive Medicine. Co-investigators are Margaret W. DeBon, Ph.D., associate professor of preventive medicine, and Stephanie A. Connelly, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of general internal medicine. Drs., Johnson, DeBon , and Connelly are all investigators in clinical trials.

Anyone interested in participating in the ExCel study should call the UTHSC Preventive Medicine recruitment department at 901-448-8400 or 1-800-916-2606 to find out if they are eligible.

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