Aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer

Through the action of aromatase, a CYP enzyme.14 Guidelines for the use of AIs in women who become postmenopausal as a result of chemotherapy or ovarian ablation have not been established. An abstract by Goss et al15 suggested that women who were premenopausal at the initiation of tamoxifen therapy but appeared postmenopausal after 5 years of therapy had improvement in disease-free survival as a result of aromatase inhibition. Studies are currently under way to better understand the role of AIs or tamoxifen after ovarian function suppression in premenopausal women (eg, Suppression of Ovarian Function Trial10 and Tamoxifen and Exemestane trial13). Aromatase inhibitors are approved to reduce the risk of recurrence in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Hormone therapy for breast cancer

Not included in the annual out of pocket drug costs, median plan premiums rose 58% in 2011 compared to 2007. All three aromatase inhibitors are given to postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Any of the AIs may be the first or primary hormonal therapy your doctor prescribes if you have early-stage disease because aromatase inhibitors are the standard hormonal therapy for postmenopausal women. The results of our economic evaluation indicate that five years of tamoxifen delivers fewer health benefits and greater lifetime cost when compared to AI monotherapy or switch therapy. The unit cost of tamoxifen is less when compared to AI, however, due to higher incidence of recurrence rate and contralateral breast cancer with tamoxifen, overall lifetime management costs become higher.

• After you get a recommended treatment plan from your health care team, study your treatment options.
• With hormonal therapies, we don’t know why some women experience difficult side effects when others, taking the same medicine, have mild or no problems.
• For example, while the cost of radiotherapy was obtained from an original Indian study in the context of head and neck cancer, in our study we used estimates for unit cost of radiotherapy per cycle which is likely to be the same for breast cancer.
• Food & Drug Administration approved and have been shown to be more effective than the antiestrogen drug tamoxifen in the postmenopausal population.

Breast Cancer Hormonal Therapies and Sex

The generic is considered to be as safe and effective as the original drug. To find out how the cost of Aromasin compares with the Testosterone cypionate cost of exemestane, talk with your doctor, pharmacist, or insurance provider. Alternatively, ovarian function can be suppressed temporarily by treatment with drugs called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, which are also known as luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists. By mimicking GnRH, these medicines interfere with signals that stimulate the ovaries to produce estrogen. Approximately 67%–80% of breast cancers in women are ER positive (1, 2).

Diaby et al. (2015) recommended additional studies to elucidate the cost-effectiveness of AIs versus tamoxifen in early-stage breast cancer 6. BC treatment options are determined based on the tumor’s type, stage, and grade and whether it is sensitive to hormones. Hormonal therapy is the cornerstone of adjuvant systemic treatment for patients with hormone receptor-positive BC 2. Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) (such as letrozole, anastrozole, and exemestane) and tamoxifen are hormonal therapies used in women with breast cancer.

Specifically, the state-specific mean monthly drug premium costs were computed for plans in each state. We report the median and range of the state-specific mean premium costs for each study year. Similarly, for the drug-specific costs, the mean costs were computed for each state, and we report the median and range of these state means. In general, aromatase inhibitors are only used to treat breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

Certain drugs, including several commonly prescribed antidepressants (those in the category called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs), inhibit an enzyme called CYP2D6. This enzyme plays a critical role in the body’s use of tamoxifen because CYP2D6 metabolizes, or breaks down, tamoxifen into molecules, or metabolites, that are much more active than tamoxifen itself. Examples of ovarian suppression drugs are goserelin (Zoladex) and leuprolide (Lupron). Just as you’re beginning a new chapter in your life, you’re told you have cancer. Aromatase inhibitors are most often used to treat existing breast cancers or to prevent previous breast cancers from recurring.

Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is the most common medicine used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer. It is a monoclonal antibody, a medicine made in a lab that attacks a specific protein produced on the outside of a cell. Targeted therapies are treatments that target specific proteins or markers on or within cancer cells that help cancer cells grow. There are many different kinds of targeted therapy, including CDK 4/6 inhibitors. Check what is the name of the hormone therapy with your doctor or nurse, then take a look at our A to Z list of cancer drugs.