Raloxifen hydrochloride, a second-generation Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) in the Raloxifene hydrochloride benzothiophene family. On September 13, 2007, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration approved Evista for reduction in the risk of invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women with and Raloxifene hydrochloride without osteoporosis. It has also been approved as a potent stand-alone osteoporosis treatment.
Raloxifene is used to prevent and treat osteoporosis (condition in which the bones become thin and weak and break easily) in women have undergone menopause. Raloxifene is also used to decrease the risk of developing invasive breast cancer (breast cancer that has spread outside of the milk ducts or lobules into the surrounding breast tissue).
Raloxifene prevents and treats osteoporosis by mimicking the effects of estrogen (a female hormone produced by the body) to increase the density (thickness) of bone. Raloxifene decreases the risk of developing invasive breast cancer by blocking the effects of estrogen on breast tissue. This may stop the development of tumors that need estrogen to grow.