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Superiority of Letrozole to Tamoxifen in the First-Line Treatment of Advanced Breast Cancer: Evidence from Metastatic Subgroups and a Test of Functional Ability

^a Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; ^b Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China; ^c Petrov Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia; ^d Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Madrid, Spain; ^e Z.A. Middelheim, Antwerpen, Belgium; ^f Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland

Correspondence: Hilary A. Chaudri-Ross, M.A., DEP, Novartis Pharma AG, WKL-490.1.04, CH-4057 Basel, Switzerland. Telephone: 41-61-696-1758; Fax: 41-61-696-1820; e-mail: hilary_anne.chaudri{at}pharma.novartis.com

Purpose. The letrozole study 025 is a large (n = 907), international, double-blind, randomized, phase III trial in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer. This subanalysis compares the efficacies of letrozole and tamoxifen as first-line therapy in postmenopausual women with advanced breast cancer according to site of metastatic lesions and Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS).

Materials and Methods. Nine hundred seven patients with advanced breast cancer were randomly assigned to once-daily oral letrozole (2.5 mg; Femara^®; Novartis Pharma AG; Basel, Switzerland) or tamoxifen (20 mg; Tamofen^®; Leiras OY; Turku, Finland). Time to progression (TTP) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method. Treatments were compared by Cox proportional hazards regression models.

Results. Letrozole treatment significantly prolonged TTP in all subsets of patients: those with nonvisceral metastases, those with visceral metastases without liver involvement, and those with liver metastases. The reduction in risk of progression ranged from 25%, for patients with nonvisceral metastases, to 36%, for patients with liver metastases. The distributions of baseline KPS scores for both treatment groups were similar (57% had KPS scores 90). Time to worsening of 20 points or more in KPS score was significantly longer with letrozole than with tamoxifen, but modest numbers of patients experienced such deterioration (letrozole, 20%, tamoxifen, 22%, in patients without visceral metastases; 23%–24% in patients with liver metastases; and letrozole, 14%, tamoxifen, 30%, in patients with visceral metastases without liver involvement).

Conclusion. These data demonstrate the consistent superiority of letrozole over tamoxifen and support the use of letrozole as a new standard of endocrine therapy in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer.

Key Words. Letrozole • Tamoxifen • Breast neoplasms • Postmenopause • Aromatase inhibitors • Karnofsky performance status

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