This depression drug can reduce joint pain in women with breast cancer

(Representational image)

New Delhi: Researchers have developed a drug which is typically used to treat depression but can also come handy in reducing joint pain in women suffering with breast cancer.

The researches conducted a trial to test whether duloxetine, a depression and anxiety drug, could alleviate pain caused by aromatase inhibitors, a common breast cancer treatment that`s particularly effective with postmenopausal women.

"We`ve shown that this treatment is a potential option for women," said N. Lynn Henry, a SWOG investigator from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in the US.

SWOG is the international cancer clinical trials network funded by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI).

"Taking this drug may help them tolerate their breast cancer treatment. And it`s important for their health that they stick with their treatment," Henry noted.

Tens of thousands of postmenopausal women each year are treated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs), pills that stop the production of estrogen and essentially starve hormone receptor-positive breast cancer cells.