Risk Cited for Tamoxifen Plus Paroxetine

Women who take tamoxifen to prevent the return of breast cancer probably should not take paroxetine (Paxil) for depression, a study suggests. In the study, women who took both drugs were more likely than average to die of breast cancer. That’s because paroxetine is thought to interfere with the action of tamoxifen, researchers said. There was no increase in deaths for women who took other antidepressants. The study looked at records for 2,430 women. All of them took tamoxifen to prevent a return of breast cancer. They also took a drug for depression. About 1 out of 4 took paroxetine. On average, there was an overlap of the two drugs for 41% of the time the women took tamoxifen. Researchers estimated that this led to 1 extra death from breast cancer for every 20 women. The study appeared in the British Medical Journal. Canadian Press wrote about it February 9.