Orlando, Florida (ots/PRNewswire)

• Landmark Study Big 1-98 Shows Letrozole Offers Greater Protection from Recurrence of Early Breast Cancer than Tamoxifen
• Web Cast Briefing Available at 17 May 2005 8:00 AM EDT http://www.ibcsg.org/index.shtm

Newly updated results of the independent Breast International
Group 1-98 trial just released at ASCO show initial treatment with
letrozole, also known as Femara(R), offers significantly greater
post-surgery protection against breast cancer recurrence than does
tamoxifen, in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer.

    Findings Confirm:
     - Letrozole out-performed tamoxifen with a 19% (p=0.003) reduction in
       risk of breast cancer recurrence
     - Letrozole demonstrated greater disease free survival in two patient
       subgroups that are at highest risk:
       - Node-positive: 29% risk reduction
       - Prior chemotherapy: 30% risk reduction
     - Letrozole reduced the risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the
       body (distant metastases) by 27% (p=0.0012)

This Web cast presents updated BIG 1-98 trial results presented at
the 2005 annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology
(ASCO) and an understanding of what the trial results mean for
patients.

    WHERE:     Click on the following link and view the Web cast data
               presentation: http://www.ibcsg.org/index.shtm
    WHO:       Dr. John Forbes, University of Newcastle, Newcastle Mater
               Hospital, Australia and BIG 1-98 Investigator
    CONTACTS:  For questions or to arrange an interview with Dr. John Forbes,
               please contact:
               Rum Ekhtiar                     Nadia Munarini, PhD
               Ruder Finn                      IBCSG
               Phone:  +1-212-593-5821         Phone:  +41-31-389-92-27
               Mobile: +1-917-331-1690         Mobile: +41-79-207-45-82

Web site: http://www.ibcsg.org/index.shtm

Contact:

Rum Ekhtiar of Ruder Finn, +1-212-593-5821, Mobile: +1-917-331-1690,
for IBCSG; or Nadia Munarini, PhD of IBCSG, +41-31-389-92-27, Mobile:
+41-79-207-45-82