Tamoxifen Tales

Tamoxifen Tales: Suggestions for Scientific Survival presents a case study describing the academic journey of teams behind major advances in medical sciences, highlighting lessons learned that are applicable to the next generation of scientists. This book provides a manual on the successful mentoring of young scientists, including stories describing how training experience shaped careers to become leaders in academia and the pharmaceutical industry. The book documents Professor V. Craig Jordan’s 50-year career in medical sciences that led to the discovery and development of Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs), which became the standard of women’s healthcare around the world. Additionally, it illustrates the versatility of a scientist with a commitment to serving societies. This important resource will be a useful and interesting book for established medical scientists, research mentors and advanced students wanting to chart a successful and impactful research career. Highlights lessons learned from the journey behind discovery science that are applicable to the scientific journey of the next generation of scientists Provides a manual on the successful mentoring of young scientists to become leaders in academia and the pharmaceutical industry Examines cancer treatment based on a personal determination to challenge at the frontiers of the science and to relate to personal life experience Includes references for further research reading

A discussion of the diagnosis of breast cancer and the risks, benefits and limitations of treatment alternatives, particularly tamoxifen. This edition contains information on developments in the use of tamoxifen, especially in the results of the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial.

Tamoxifen is a pioneering medicine for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. It is the first drug targeted therapy in cancer to be successful. Tamoxifen targets the tumor estrogen receptor. The therapy is known to have saved the lives of millions of women over the past 40 years. This monograph, written by V. Craig Jordan - known as the “father of tamoxifen” - and his Tamoxifen Team at the Georgetown University Washington DC, illustrates the journey of this milestone in medicine. It includes a personal interview with V. Craig Jordan about his four decades of discovery in breast cancer research and treatment. V. Craig Jordan was there for the birth of tamoxifen as he is credited for reinventing a “failed morning after contraceptive” to become the “gold standard” for the treatment of breast cancer. He contributed to every aspect of tamoxifen application in therapeutics and all aspects of tamoxifen’s pharmacology. He discovered the selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) and explored the new biology of estrogen-induced apoptosis.

Tamoxifen has persisted as a widely accepted and administered drug for almost 25 years. Following the many scientific papers and books on the subject, it has remained a very intriguing substance. This, perhaps, is the reason for another monograph on Tamoxifen. It is regrettably true that overviews, even when up to date after exhaustive research - the shibboleth of our cultures -, rapidly lose relevance with the passage of time. Scientists can sometimes be pictured as deep sea divers, who plunge into the unknown in search of a hitherto unknown world. Their descent is exciting, but eventually they must come up for air and integrate their experiences with others who also had to resurface. This book intends to collect and, where possible, to collate recent, but sometimes seemingly unrelated information. To quote Stephane Mallarme: "Everything in the world exists to end up in a book". Even if this is a tad cynical, it might not be far from the truth. If a little knowledge is a dangerous commodity, one can also add - tongue in cheek - that a vast amount of knowledge can be truly hazardous. It is likely that what might seem as entangled data is confusing, especially for those satisfied with the comfortable interpretation of Tamoxifen as an antiestrogen which has long been found insufficient. The complexity of its mechanisms and effects defies simple explanations and may even seem capricious, but only because of our ignorance.

During the past twenty years tamoxifen has become the most widely prescribed and most successful drug used in the treatment of breast cancer. In this volume, editor V. Craig Jordan provides articles that trace the development, pharmacology, and clinical research surrounding this drug which, by the year 2000, could be used to treat as many as one million women annually. Drawing from research conducted by specialists in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy, the series of articles describes the clinical testing of tamoxifen, highlighting the benefits. Studies show that tamoxifen lowers cholesterol and can potentially protect women against osteoporosis and fatal coronary heart disease. Equally important is a discussion of side effects and possible drug interactions and how these issues relate to patient concerns. An investigation of the development of a new class of drugs for use after tamoxifen fails provides valuable insight into future treatments, as the contributers consider possible resistance to tamoxifen. This volume provides invaluable information for physicians and surgeons who care for patients with breast cancer and for women interested in exploring this therapeutic dimension.

Intended for the physician whose primary discipline is not medical oncology, but whose practice includes women at risk for breast cancer and/or women who are either taking tamoxifen to treat breast cancer, or women who are taking raloxifene to prevent osteoporosis. Also recommended for nurses in breast care centers who are responsible for the day-to-day care of women.