Anyone ever see this stuff around?
Sounds like it would be extremely effective for our purposes.
I hi-lited and underlined the important parts
for those of you with ADD...lol
YYZ
Aromasin tablets
Composition: Exemestane 25mg.
Presentation: Sugar-coated tablets.
Storage and stability: Do not store above 30C.
Action: Irreversible, steroidal aromatase inhibitor.
Indications: Treatment of advanced breast cancer in women with natural or induced postmenopausal status whose disease has progressed following anti- oestrogen therapy. Third-line hormonal treatment of advanced breast cancer in women with natural or induced postmenopausal status whose disease progressed following treatment with anti-oestrogens and either non-steroidal aromatase inhibitors or progestins.
Contraindications: Premenopausal women and pregnant or
lactating women. Patients with a known hypersensitivity to the drug or any of the excipients.
Dosage and administration: Adults and elderly, 25mg once daily, preferably after a meal. Continue until tumour progression is evident.
Children, not recommended.
Overdosage: No specific antidote to overdosage and treatment must be symptomatic. General supportive care, including frequent monitoring of vital signs and close observation of the patient, is indicated.
Precautions: Exemestane should not be co-administered with oestrogen-containing medicines as these would negate its pharmacological action.
Drug interactions: No formal drug interaction studies have been carried out. A possible decrease of exemestane plasma levels by known inducers of P450 (CYP) 3A4 cannot be excluded.
Side effects: In clinical studies, adverse events were usually mild to moderate. The most frequent, either drug related or of indeterminate cause, were hot flushes, nausea, fatigue, increased sweating and dizziness. Less common events, reported with an incidence higher than or equal to 2 per cent were headache, insomnia, pain, skin rash, abdominal pain, anorexia, vomiting, depression, alopecia, peripheral or leg oedema, constipation and dyspepsia.
Net price: 30 tablets £102.86.
Supplier: Pharmacia &
amp; Upjohn Ltd, Davy Avenue, Knowlhill, Milton Keynes MK5 8PH. Tel 01908 661101, fax 01908 690091
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Title: ASCO MEETING: Aromasin Improves Survival In Post-Menopausal Breast Cancer Patients
URL:
http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/FE316.htm
Doctor's Guide
May 17, 1999
ATLANTA, GA -- May 17, 1999 -- New data suggest that Pharmacia &
amp; Upjohn's Aromasin(R) (exemestane tablets), an oral aromatase inactivator, provides significant survival benefit for post-menopausal women with metastatic breast cancer that has progressed despite treatment with tamoxifen.
In a large study presented this weekend at the 35th annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the efficacy of Aromasin was compared to that of a standard hormonal therapy (megestrol acetate) in patients who experienced tamoxifen failure. Researchers found that Aromasin reduced the risk of tumour progression by 18 percent and the risk of death by 23 percent.
"For postmenopausal women with breast cancer for whom hormonal therapy is appropriate, Aromasin has shown benefits," said Dr. Stephen Jones, director, Breast Cancer Research, Baylor University Medical Center and Physicians Reliance Network and one of the lead U.S. researchers on the study. "This study suggests that Aromasin offers a survival advantage over a standard hormonal therapy."
Aromasin is an
aromatase inactivator that works by
selectively targeting and irreversibly binding to the aromatase enzyme, a key enzyme required to produce estrogen, which some breast cancer cells need to survive.
Once the binding occurs, estrogen can never be made by that enzyme again. With the inactivation of the aromatase enzyme, exemestane cuts off the supply of estrogen to cancerous cells and prevents the cells from continuing to grow.
The method of action of the aromatase inactivator differs from older aromatase inhibitors (Arimidex, Nolvadex) because it binds irreversibly to the aromatase enzyme, permanently blocking its function.
Enrolling 769 post-menopausal women whose cancer had metastasised, the phase III, double blind, randomised study suggests that Aromasin (one 25 mg pill daily) provides greater benefit than megestrol acetate (40 mg four times daily) in survival, tumour reduction and the duration of disease stabilisation. Patients taking megestrol acetate had a median survival (estimated time at which 50 percent of the patients were still alive) of approximately 28 months, while patients taking Aromasin had a median survival significantly longer than 28 months. Researchers also found a significant difference in favour of Aromasin in delaying the progression of cancer (4.7 versus 3.8 months). Additionally, 15 percent of patients treated with Aromasin experienced at least a 50 percent or greater reduction in the size of the tumour or a complete disappearance of all known lesions (objective response rate equals complete tumour responses plus partial tumour responses), compared to 12.4 percent for megestrol acetate, though this was not statistically significant.
Given its potent suppression of estrogen, Aromasin use was associated with expected low-grade nausea (18.4 percent) and hot flashes (13.4 percent). Aromasin was also associated with less undesirable weight gain (7.6 percent versus 17.1 percent) than megestrol acetate. Aromasin should not be administered to women with premenopausal endocrine status.
Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc
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MISSISSAUGA, ON -- August 31, 2000 -- Health Canada has approved the estrogen-suppressing drug Aromasin™ (exemestane tablets) for post-menopausal women with advanced breast cancer whose tumours no longer respond to tamoxifen
Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc
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Is Aromasin effective for people after the failure of Arimidex,
and are there any promising clinical trials?
Tanesha, Kansas, Dr. Wolff October, 2000
Fern: "Is Aromasin effective for people after the failure of Arimidex, and are there any promising clinical trials?"
Dr. Wolff: Aromasin, also known as exemestane, is a class of drugs of what's called aromatase inactivators, and it was just approved in the U.S. not so long ago. And actually, there are some clinical studies where Aromasin was given as a third-line option, so women who have received the drug tamoxifen as an anti-hormone drug in metastatic breast cancer, and after a while it wasn't working anymore. They were switched to a second-line therapy with a drug called one of the aromatase inhibitors such as letrozole or anastrozole - Femara or Arimidex are the commercial names.
And there was a publication about six months ago showing that in some of those patients who progressed to second-line therapy, about 11 percent or so of these women still benefited from a third-line hormonal therapy with the drug Aromasin. So, I think what we are learning is that we are trying as hard as we can to try to maximize the benefit of potentially simple medications that will have low toxicity, so we minimize the side effects and maximize the benefits of the treatment and don't make the treatment worse than the disease.
Aromasin - anyone seen it, used it ?
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