What if doctors had a pill that prevents breast cancer and nobody wanted to take it? That has pretty much been the situation with tamoxifen, an estrogen-like drug that was proved in 1998 to cut in half the chance of developing breast cancer if taken for five years by women with increased risk of the malignancy. The trouble is, tamoxifen also triggers menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and slightly increases the chances that a woman will develop blood clots and uterine cancer. As a result, women haven't been too eager to take the medication--nor have many doctors been all that enthusiastic...
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