Laura L. Michaud, PharmD

Endocrine therapy has long been a mainstay in the therapy of metastatic breast cancer and in the adjuvant setting. The introduction of anastrozole (Arimidex) to the market in 1996 has provided another option for such treatment. Drs. Goss and Tye provide a thorough review of anastrozole and outline its advantages over other aromatase inhibitors as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer and its potential use in the treatment of early breast cancer. The authors delineate many important issues regarding the use of anastrozole; an understanding of these issues is imperative for the optimal utilization of this therapy. The paper has two shortcomings: (1) It focuses almost solely on aromatase inhibitors, to the neglect of other endocrine therapies. (2) Many references are unconventional and represent data on file with various drug manufacturers, which are not easily accessible to readers.