AstraZeneca withdraws Nolvadex

AstraZeneca is to stop selling the breast cancer drug Nolvadex following a decline in sales, according to reports.

MarketWatch reports that Nolvadex, which is the AstraZeneca brand name for tamoxifen, will be withdrawn from the market by June, according to a letter sent in March to the US Food and Drug Administration by AstraZeneca.

Nolvadex was first released in the late 70s, but since then generic versions of tamoxifen have saturated the market, making Nolvadex less requested.

“As you know, currently there are numerous companies that manufacture generic tamoxifen in the United States and as a result, the requests for brand name Nolvadex have dwindled steadily over the last year,” AstraZeneca said in a letter, according to MarketWatch.

“It is solely for this reason that AstraZeneca has decided to cease manufacturing of Nolvadex.”

Recent approvals of drugs such as Aromasin from Pfizer and Femara by Novartis, have targeted breast cancer at an early stage in postmenopausal women, which has reduced the appeal of Nolvadex further.

© Adfero Ltd