tamoxifen
/təˈmɒksɪfɛn
/noun [mass noun] Medicine
A synthetic drug used to treat breast cancer and infertility in women. It acts as an oestrogen antagonist.The risk is small compared to the benefits of using tamoxifen to treat breast cancer....
- The question of how long patients should continue taking the drug is important because tamoxifen is not problem free.
- Patients managed as outpatients (such as those treated with tamoxifen only) were likely to be missed.
Origin
1970s: an arbitrary formation based on trans-, amine, oxy-2, phenol, elements of the drug's chemical name.