ARIMIDEX is an aromatase inhibitor with over 8 years of clinical data — 5 years on treatment and more than 3 years of follow-up that demonstrate efficacy and safety in the initial treatment of hormone-receptor positive, early breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
Learn about ARIMIDEX
If you have been newly diagnosed with breast cancer or are new to hormonal
treatment, it’s time to learn how ARIMIDEX may help reduce your risk of breast
cancer recurrence.
ARIMIDEX is a prescription medicine approved for
postmenopausal
women with
hormone receptor-positive
early breast cancer. ARIMIDEX is a
hormonal treatment
that helps fight breast cancer by lowering the amount of the hormone estrogen
in the body.
Ask your doctor about ARIMIDEX, the most prescribed aromatase inhibitor.*
*IMS National Prescription Audit Plus: Therapeutic Category Report. February 2008.
back to top
The science of ARIMIDEX
Click to enlarge
In a complex series of reactions, the adrenal gland makes certain hormones,
including androgens (male hormones) and estrogens (female hormones)
Click to enlarge
When women have gone through menopause, their ovaries no longer make estrogen.
Most of their estrogen is created by changing the androgens to estrogens. An
enzyme called aromatase helps in this process. Androgens change to estrogens in
various places in the body, such as in muscle, fat, and the liver, and also in
breast tumors
Click to enlarge
Some breast cancer tumors grow when the hormone estrogen is present. ARIMIDEX
binds to aromatase, stopping — or inhibiting —
aromatase activity and the production of estrogen. For this reason, ARIMIDEX is
called an aromatase inhibitor
-
ARIMIDEX significantly lowers the concentration of certain estrogens in your
body.
back to top
Side effect profile
Possible Side Effects of ARIMIDEX.
Based on information from a study in patients with early breast cancer, women with a history of blockages in heart arteries (ischemic heart disease) who take ARIMIDEX may have a slight increase in this type of heart disease compared to similar patients who take tamoxifen.
ARIMIDEX can cause bone softening/weakening (osteoporosis) increasing the chance of fractures. In a clinical study in early breast cancer, there were more fractures (including fractures of the spine, hip, and wrist) with ARIMIDEX (10%) than with tamoxifen (7%).
In a clinical study in early breast cancer, some patients taking ARIMIDEX had an increase in cholesterol. Skin reactions, allergic reactions, and changes in blood tests of liver function have also been reported.
In the early breast cancer
clinical trial,
the most common side effects seen with ARIMIDEX include hot flashes, joint symptoms (including arthritis and arthralgia), weakness, mood changes, pain, back pain, sore throat, nausea and vomiting, rash, depression, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, fractures, swelling of arms/legs, insomnia, and headache.
Patients taking ARIMIDEX were less likely than those taking tamoxifen to stop treatment because of side effects. See Important Safety Information below, and talk to your doctor to see if ARIMIDEX is right for you.
-
Prescription ARIMIDEX is only for postmenopausal women. ARIMIDEX should not be
taken if you are pregnant because it may harm your unborn child
-
ARIMIDEX should not be taken with tamoxifen or estrogen-containing therapies
Please see
full Prescribing Information. For more information, see your doctor.
back to top