Ibrance usage

batsas

Hello Respected.

My mom had been diagnosed with BC recurrence (ER/PR + and HER -).My onc told that Ibrance +Letrozole would be next treatment plan fo her.Can anyone how the side effect will be and for how many days she have to take those tablets?Please help

cive

Normally speaking, that tx is used for stage IV people.  But in any case she would take letrozole every day and Ibrance every day for 3 weeks and then a week off.  That can change due to problems with white blood counts that tend to get low.  Most of us have the side effect of fatigue and some the hot flashes due to the decrease in estrogen.  That may or may not affect your mother.

batsas

Thanks for the response CIVE.My mom had Metastatic BC spread to ribs only,it is stable for past 4 months.Now she is under Femara.Our oncologist suggested Ibrance will be a good option for her. But its very costly here in India (nearly 1 lakh per month) and i dont know whether it can be covered under insurancce

cive

batsas, when I was first diagnosed with mets, I took femara only for 18 months until I had some progression.  Then I moved on to faslodex and Ibrance.  Ibrance is very expensive here in the U.S. also but pifzer does provide some help.  Check out their web site www.ibrance.com.

batsas

thanks for reply cive.it would be helpful if you tell about femara mechanism of action against cancer cells..will it kill cancer cells and what's it impact in slowing down.the progression

cive

batsas, Femara doesn't really exactly kill cancer cells, but reduces the amount of estrogen receptors available which more or less starves them to death since most of them need estrogen receptors to grow.  That is what the er/pr+ business is about, that much of your cancer cells require estrogen and/or progesterone to grow.

1boobtoo

Is there anyone who has been offered Ibrance and declined the use. ?

cive

Yes, but not for long.  When I originally started on Femara, my MO also suggested Ibrance.  I declined it for the 18 months with no progression on Femara, but now I'm on faslodex and Ibrance.