Exemestane or Anastrozole in Treating Postmenopausal Women Who Have Undergone Surgery for Primary Breast Cancer

Summary

RATIONALE: Estrogen can stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells. Hormone therapy, using exemestane or anastrozole, may fight breast cancer by reducing the production of estrogen. It is not yet known whether exemestane is more effective than anastrozole in preventing the recurrence of breast cancer. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying exemestane to see how well it works compared to anastrozole in preventing cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women who have undergone surgery for primary breast cancer.

Timeline

Start

2003-06-06

Primary completion

2010-11-07

Completion

2012-01-06

Outcome

Missed primary endpoint

registry analysis (superiority test); Exemestane vs Anastrozole; p = 0.85; Hazard Ratio (HR) 1.02 (95% CI 0.87 to 1.18); Log Rank NCT00066573 ↗

Publications

• Results Moy B, Elliott CR, Chapman J-AW, et al.: NCIC CTG MA.27: menopausal symptoms of ethnic minority women. [Abstract] Breast Cancer Res Treat 100 (Suppl 1): A-3059, S144, 2006.
• Results Goss PE, Ingle JN, Pritchard KI, Ellis MJ, Sledge GW, Budd GT, Rabaglio M, Ansari RH, Johnson DB, Tozer R, D'Souza DP, Chalchal H, Spadafora S, Stearns V, Perez EA, Liedke PE, Lang I, Elliott C, Gelmon KA, Chapman JA, Shepherd LE. Exemestane versus anastrozole in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer: NCIC CTG MA.27--a randomized controlled phase III trial. J Clin Oncol. 2013 Apr 10;31(11):1398-404. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2012.44.7805. Epub 2013 Jan 28.
• Pilgram L, Yang K, Beltran-Bless AA, Pond GR, Vandermeer L, Hilton J, Savard MF, LeBlanc A, Shepherd L, Chen B, Bartlett JM, Taylor KJ, Bayani J, Barker S, Spears M, van der Velde CJ, Meershoek-Klein Kranenbarg E, Dirix L, Mallon E, Hasenburg A, Markopoulos C, Juwara L, Dankar FK, Clemons M, El Emam K. Transfer Learning and Machine Learning for Training Five-Year Survival Prognostic Models in Early Breast Cancer: Development and Validation Study. J Med Internet Res. 2026 Apr 14;28:e88665. doi: 10.2196/88665.
• Chapman JW, Bayani J, SenGupta S, Bartlett JMS, Piper T, Quintayo MA, Virk S, Goss PE, Ingle JN, Ellis MJ, Sledge GW, Budd GT, Rabaglio M, Ansari RH, Tozer R, D'Souza DP, Chalchal H, Spadafora S, Stearns V, Perez EA, Gelmon KA, Whelan TJ, Elliott C, Shepherd LE, Chen BE, Taylor KJ. Adjunctive Statistical Standardization of Adjuvant Estrogen Receptor and Progesterone Receptor in Canadian Cancer Trials Group MA.27 Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Trial of Exemestane Versus Anastrozole. J Clin Oncol. 2024 Aug 20;42(24):2887-2898. doi: 10.1200/JCO.24.00835. Epub 2024 Jun 2.
• Ethier JL, Anderson GM, Austin PC, Clemons M, Parulekar W, Shepherd L, Summers Trasiewicz L, Tu D, Amir E. Influence of the competing risk of death on estimates of disease recurrence in trials of adjuvant endocrine therapy for early-stage breast cancer: A secondary analysis of MA.27, MA.17 and MA.17R. Eur J Cancer. 2021 May;149:117-127. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2021.02.034. Epub 2021 Apr 11.
• Strasser-Weippl K, Higgins MJ, Chapman JW, Ingle JN, Sledge GW, Budd GT, Ellis MJ, Pritchard KI, Clemons MJ, Badovinac-Crnjevic T, Han L, Gelmon KA, Rabaglio M, Elliott C, Shepherd LE, Goss PE. Effects of Celecoxib and Low-dose Aspirin on Outcomes in Adjuvant Aromatase Inhibitor-Treated Patients: CCTG MA.27. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2018 Sep 1;110(9):1003-1008. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djy017.
• Strasser-Weippl K, Sudan G, Ramjeesingh R, Shepherd LE, O'Shaughnessy J, Parulekar WR, Liedke PER, Chen BE, Goss PE. Outcomes in women with invasive ductal or invasive lobular early stage breast cancer treated with anastrozole or exemestane in CCTG (NCIC CTG) MA.27. Eur J Cancer. 2018 Feb;90:19-25. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2017.11.014. Epub 2017 Dec 20.
• Yerushalmi R, Dong B, Chapman JW, Goss PE, Pollak MN, Burnell MJ, Levine MN, Bramwell VHC, Pritchard KI, Whelan TJ, Ingle JN, Shepherd LE, Parulekar WR, Han L, Ding K, Gelmon KA. Impact of baseline BMI and weight change in CCTG adjuvant breast cancer trials. Ann Oncol. 2017 Jul 1;28(7):1560-1568. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdx152.
• Stearns V, Chapman JA, Ma CX, Ellis MJ, Ingle JN, Pritchard KI, Budd GT, Rabaglio M, Sledge GW, Le Maitre A, Kundapur J, Liedke PE, Shepherd LE, Goss PE. Treatment-associated musculoskeletal and vasomotor symptoms and relapse-free survival in the NCIC CTG MA.27 adjuvant breast cancer aromatase inhibitor trial. J Clin Oncol. 2015 Jan 20;33(3):265-71. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2014.57.6926. Epub 2014 Dec 15.
• Goetz MP, Schaid DJ, Wickerham DL, Safgren S, Mushiroda T, Kubo M, Batzler A, Costantino JP, Vogel VG, Paik S, Carlson EE, Flockhart DA, Wolmark N, Nakamura Y, Weinshilboum RM, Ingle JN, Ames MM. Evaluation of CYP2D6 and efficacy of tamoxifen and raloxifene in women treated for breast cancer chemoprevention: results from the NSABP P1 and P2 clinical trials. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Nov 1;17(21):6944-51. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-11-0860. Epub 2011 Aug 31.

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Indications