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In this article, the authors discuss the meta-analysis conducted by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) on the long-term outcomes of women breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen. They commend EBCTCG's commitment to investigate and update a database on breast cancer which showed that tamoxifen reduces cancer recurrence rate. They mention the significance of oestrogen receptor (ER) as a factor for tamoxifen efficacy based on the findings in the study.

The authors explore the significance of neoadjuvant trials in the search for new therapeutic strategies with the ability to assess response to systemic treatment. They discuss and offer comments on several studies, with an emphasis on the NeOAdjuvant Herceptin study of trastuzumab by Luca Gianni et al conducted among women with a locally advanced or inflammatory breast cancer. They discuss the clinical goals of neoadjuvant therapy, as well as the need to further exploit neoadjuvant trials in the search for new therapeutic strategies.