Skip to main content

How much does Arimidex increase survival?

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on April 28, 2025.

Official Answer by Drugs.com

Arimidex (anastrozole) is a medication that is used to treat breast cancer in postmenopausal women. In most cases, Arimidex is taken for five years, although some women may take it for a shorter period.

Many women worry that stopping Arimidex after five years will cause their cancer to come back; however, the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study II (IBIS-II) Prevention trial reports that:

The IBIS-II Prevention trial enrolled 3,864 postmenopausal women at increased risk for developing breast cancer from 2003 to 2012. Among the participants, 1,920 were randomly assigned to anastrozole for five years and 1,944 to placebo.

The five-year adherence rate was 74.6 percent for Arimidex and 77.0 percent for placebo, which is not significantly different.

References

Read next

What is Veridex used for?

Veridex, a brand name drug from Turkey, has been reported as containing the breast cancer medicine anastrozole. Anastrozole is known as Arimidex in the U.S. Continue reading

See also:

Related medical questions

Drug information

Related support groups