Anastrozole is the generic version of Arimidex, a product of AstraZeneca.
Anastrozole is an aromatase inhibitor, which interrupts a critical step in the body’s synthesis of estrogen. Some breast cancer cells require estrogen to grow, and eliminating estrogen suppresses their growth.
Arimidex is approved for the initial treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor-unknown locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer and for the treatment of postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer that has progressed following treatment with tamoxifen.
Teva said that patients with hormone receptor-negative disease and patients who did not previously respond to tamoxifen therapy rarely responded to Arimidex.