This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) eLetters: Submit a response to this article Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services E-mail this article link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints/Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Muchmore, D. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Muchmore, D. B.

Raloxifene: A Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) with Multiple Target System Effects

Lilly Research Laboratories, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Correspondence: Douglas B Muchmore, M.D., Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, Indiana 46285, USA. Telephone: 317-277-7332; Fax: 317-277-8165; e-mail: Dmuch{at}lilly.com

ABSTRACT

Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) exhibit a pharmacologic profile characterized by estrogen agonist activity in some tissues with estrogen antagonist activity in other tissues. These compounds were initially called "antiestrogens," but it was subsequently recognized that this inadequately described their spectrum of activities. The first widely used SERM, tamoxifen, has estrogen antagonist activity in breast tissue but shows estrogen-like activity in other tissues. Raloxifene is another SERM in clinical use, and it was developed to avoid some of the undesirable estrogen agonist actions of other SERMs to improve the drug safety profile. Raloxifene has been introduced for clinical use in treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis. This review will explore the preclinical and clinical pharmacology of raloxifene, and compare it to other SERMs currently available for clinical use.

Key Words. Raloxifene • Selective estrogen receptor modulators • Osteoporosis • Cholesterol • Uterus • Estrogen • Tamoxifen

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P Iglesias and J J Diez Current treatments in the management of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism Postgrad. Med. J., January 1, 2009; 85(999): 15 - 23. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Nalbandian, V. Paharkova-Vatchkova, A. Mao, S. Nale, and S. Kovats The Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators, Tamoxifen and Raloxifene, Impair Dendritic Cell Differentiation and Activation J. Immunol., August 15, 2005; 175(4): 2666 - 2675. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]