A new use for an old medicine?

A beta blocker is being studied as a preventative

Propranolol is a drug used to treat high blood pressure. Researchers have been focusing their attention on its benefits in preventing breast cancer in women.

Two studies – one by scientists at Nottingham University and the latest, a joint collaboration between Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Trinity College, Dublin – have found that women taking propranolol in the year before breast cancer was diagnosed, were 76 per cent less likely to develop advanced cancer than those not using it. The Nottingham University study also showed that there were 71% fewer deaths among women already using beta blockers – of which propramolol is one.

As far as I can see, the study does not prevent the development of breast cancer but it is suggested that it might prevent the already-developed cancer from spreading. More studies are underway.

In the USA, tamoxifen, raloxifene and exemestane are being used already as preventative medication. Earlier this year, an international panel of cancer experts called for these drugs to be used in a similar way in the UK. Professor Jack Cuzick – who chaired the panel and is an epidemiologist at Queen Mary College, University of London – said “Tamoxifen and Raloxifene should be approved in the UK. The evidence for them is overwhelming.” The panel narrowed the selection of women, who would be offered the preventative therapies, to those with a greater than 4 per cent chance of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years.

However, no drug is without its side-effects. Beta-blockers, though cheap to produce, can cause dizziness, insomnia and could raise the chances of developing type-two diabetes. Tamoxifen and raloxifene’s side effects range from menopause-like symptoms, through joint pain and cramps – which I experience all the time – to blood clots, strokes and uterine cancer.

In fact, the figures from Professor Jack Cuzick’s panel estimate that, for every 1000 women given preventative tamoxifen, there would be 20 fewer breast cancers, but there would also be three more womb cancers and six cases of deep vein thrombosis.

Obviously, these drugs could only be given to healthy individuals – in the case of exemestane, the drug would be given to healthy post-menopausal women – but for how long? Would it be five years – the length of time for which tamoxifen is prescribed for breast cancer patients? Would that be long enough? Should it be for life?

For people who fall into the chosen category, there would be a good deal of weighing up the benefits against the risks and side effects. What do you think? If the drug was appropriate for you and you were in the high-risk category, would you take it for prevention? Should the UK allow tamoxifen and raloxifene to be used for this purpose too?

This would be mimicking the policy on statins – used to lower cholesterol (the fatty substance that clogs up the arteries) and prevent heart attacks and strokes. Currently, there are 7 million patients in the UK taking statins and some schools of medical thought would have every one of us taking the drug.

Is the logic of this that, eventually, we will all be taking a vast number of daily medications in the belief that they will enable us not to develop a specific condition (which we might not develop anyway) and to live for ever?

Email me at judith.potts@telegraph.co.uk