tamoxifen

tamoxifen, synthetic hormone, used primarily in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer, that inhibits the growth-promoting actions of estrogen in breast cancer cells. Tamoxifen was first synthesized in 1962 by scientists at the British pharmaceutical company Imperial Chemical Industries PLC (now AstraZeneca). The agent (then known as ICI 46474) was subsequently found to have contraceptive effects in rats and was believed to exert its effects solely through antiestrogen mechanisms. Thus, tamoxifen was initially investigated...