NHS England » Teaching old drugs new tricks: preventing breast cancer with a repurposed medicine

Your doctor will monitor these during your regular check-ups and recommend treatment as needed. You will have bone density scans before you start taking anastrozole, 1 or 2 years into treatment and again after you finish your treatment. Anastrozole is generally safe to take long term, however your specialist team will monitor your health carefully. Your specialist will be able to explain the benefits and risks of taking anastrozole. Anastrozole is not recommended when pregnant or breastfeeding, because it interferes with hormone levels in you and your baby.

• In the pivotal clinical trial, efficacy was not demonstrated and safety was not established (see section 5.1).
• Some people start taking anastrozole after a number of years of taking another hormone therapy drug called tamoxifen.
• It does this by blocking a substance in the body called aromatase.
• Find somebody who understands what you’re going through with Someone Like Me.

If the licence variation is granted by the MHRA, it will provide reassurance to patients and doctors that using anastrozole to prevent breast cancer is safe and effective. The study analysed data from the IBIS-II prevention trial, an international randomised controlled trial of anastrozole in high-risk post-menopausal women conducted from 2003 to 2012. It found that there was a 55% reduction of risk of developing cancer in three quarters of the women receiving anastrozole.

What is anastrozole? What are the side effects? And am I eligible for the breast cancer drug? All your questions answered

People being treated for primary breast cancer will usually take anastrozole for 5 to 10 years. If you miss a dose, you don’t need to take an extra dose the next day. The level of drug in your body will remain high enough from the day before. You may also hear it called Arimidex, which is its best-known brand name.

Evidence was based on the IBIS-II study, an international, randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, which showed fewer women developed breast cancer in the anastrozole group compared to the placebo group. Anastrozole was already authorised for use in the treatment of breast cancer in post-menopausal women and has been used off-label for prevention. Anastrozole, a hormone blocker used for many years to treat breast cancer, has been licensed for preventative use. In animal studies adverse effects were only seen at high doses. Anastrozole is eliminated slowly with a plasma elimination half-life of 40 to 50 hours. Anastrozole is extensively metabolised by postmenopausal women with less than 10% of the dose excreted in the urine unchanged within 72 hours of dosing.

Anastrozole improves height outcomes in growing children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia

After the menopause the levels of the sex hormone oestrogen decrease. We have some tips for coping with hot flushes in women and hot flushes in men. This information also includes some of the possible treatments. During this time you’re likely to have menopause symptoms as your body gets used to having less oestrogen. These symptoms will gradually improve as your body adjusts to the medicine.

• You may find that since the active treatment period, your capacity for exercise is not the same as it used to be and your limits have changed somewhat.
• This is because there’s a risk the drugs could be passed on through breast milk.
• Oestrogen is known more as a female hormone, but men also have a small amount of oestrogen.
• The major concern would be an increased fracture risk which wasn’t apparent, and no other significant increases in other adverse effects were seen.

While survival rates have improved, 11,500 people still die from it each year. Last week it was licensed for prevention by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), as part of NHS England’s medicines repurposing programme. The Arimidex safety profile in these 3 studies was consistent with the known safety profile established in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer. A review of the clinical trial safety database did not reveal evidence of clinically significant interaction in patients treated with Arimidex who also received other commonly prescribed medicinal products. There were no clinically significant interactions with bisphosphonates (see section 5.1). • Treatment of hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

However, only take a break from your medicine if you have discussed it with your doctor first and they agree to it. Aromatase inhibitors reduce the amount of aromatase in your body and this in turn stops your body producing oestrogen. This helps prevent cancer cells growing, as they no longer have anything to feed on. Aromatase inhibitor medicines are used to treat certain types of breast cancer, where the cancer cells need oestrogen (a hormone) to grow. https://www.lapizzasolna.se/2023/09/04/anastrazolos-1-mg-pharmacom-labs-unveiling/ belongs to a group of medicines called aromatase inhibitors. The decision was based on results from the international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled IBIS-II trial, which showed that fewer women developed breast cancer when taking anastrozole compared to a placebo group.

If you feel you have experienced an allergic reaction, stop using this medicine and inform your doctor or pharmacist immediately. This medicine should not be used if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Please inform your doctor or pharmacist if you have previously experienced such an allergy.

NICE has recommended the off-license use of anastrazole for breast cancer prevention in high risk, post-menopausal patients since as far back as 2017 familial breast cancer guideline CG164, but uptake has been low. This new announcement relates to the re-licensing of the drug to include this new indication and stems from the NHS England’s Medicines Repurposing programme, which NHS England wrote to us about last month. They used their work on anastrozole as an exemplar for the programme, and it’s the first drug to emerge from it with a new license.

Medicine safety

It’s important to discuss any fertility concerns with your treatment team before you begin your treatment. Taking anastrozole while pregnant may be harmful to a developing baby. It’s possible to become pregnant while taking anastrozole even if your periods have stopped with ovarian suppression.