Ibrance (Palbociclib)

Dear ladies, is anyone here who was given Ibrance with antihormonals after the metasectomy due to oligomet (f.e. liver ablation or ablation of metastasis in lungs) which put them into remission? I had resection of single low grade liver met in november, that made me NED and MO prescribed only AI (exemestan). She said that she would add palbociclib only when I progress. But I think why wait. Is it also used for low burden disease (CTC), that it can not be seen on Pet or MRI? Thank you.

Seaway, such great news about your scans!

Lakewoman, I'm so sorry about your awful night. I'll expand a bit on my advice to "drink a lot of water". I didn't fully explain, as I didn't want to give Sparrow further unnecessary worries. A handful of us have experienced an odd "puff of smoke" shortly after taking our Ibrance capsule. I think that the Ibrance capsule must dissolve pretty readily, and when it isn't washed all the way down the pipe, so to speak, it can start to dissolve early, and a little ladylike burp can send a most disconcerting and unexpected puff of Ibrance powder wafting out of your mouth and nose. It looks like smoke! Neither my onc nor my onc nurse had ever heard of this, but several of us here of the site have experienced it. I've had it happen three times in the past. HOWEVER..... if I drink a full glass of water with the capsule, washing it fully down and then doing a little burp at the end, I haven't had a problem since.

Hugs to all and a happy dance for all of the great news! Lakewoman, you'll be back out casting in no time! Catch a speck for me!

Lakewoman - I'm so sorry you had such horrible nausea. That's one thing that's I have not experienced at all with Ibrance. I take mine right before bed, typically not with food, but I do drink water. I have a pretty strong stomach though. I think I've thrown up 2, maybe 3, times total in my 48 years of life. My skin is another story and I do get the Ibrance rash.

Seaway - I asked my doc about a biophosphate and he said because I only have (had?) the one bone met, it wasn’t worth the side effects. I may ask again though. Seems everyone with bone mets take them. Your doctor may not prescribe since your bones are clean (Yay!) but I’d be curious what he says.

Maaki - I am oglio also and I take Ibrance. It’s worth asking.

Joyner - thanks for that link. I read Inspire here and there but missed that thread.

Have a great day everyone!

TY to Ibrance friends for once again being there for me.I might not catch a speck.But my hubby just helped stock 5000 browns and lakers!!! We really prefer to catch Crappie aka Calico bass. Soon I hope..

Today time to get off my butt and go for short walk..Tomorrow few min on stationary bike!! Oh also to dentist today ..made appt yesterday. Tune in this evening lol!!

Works BETTER!?! ok then, joyner, with food from now on! Thanks for that

Thanks folks - i assumed the 'with food' guideline was just due to potential tummy issues, which is generally not a concern for me. I take all of my pills at night right before bed to avoid having to carry Ibrance with me depending on where I am at dinner time (straight from work to out to dinner, at the ball field or hockey practice with my kid, etc). Maybe I will just eat something at night like an apple or some crackers. I will lose them if I start carrying them around

Congratulations on great news Cathy and Nettger! The sun shines brighter when we get good news!

I was also freaked out by the Ibrance packaging at first. After 30 months I’m now cheery when the package arrives

The dizziness I’ve been having happens both when I’m on the drug and during the time off. One doc thinks dizziness and balance issues are due to neuropathy in my feet and bad vision. Another thinks it's something else... trigeminal nerve irritation in the brain or something els. The meds I take helped for awhile. Most of the time it’s simply annoying. More scans next week plus another brain MRI to check it out. Not terribly worried, but I hate worrying my DH ,DDs and SILs!

It’s a beautiful day so I’m just going to enjoy life

Food increases stomach acid, which aids in the absorption of palbociclib. For that reason, drugs or substances that reduce stomach acid also reduce the levels of the drug in your body.

Thanks all you wonderful ladies! Your posts have helped a great deal. I think when I saw that scary warning all of this got real in a hurry, if you know what I mean.

My Oncotype DX score was low at my first DX so I opted out of chemo. The thought of it scared the liver out of me as my mom used to say. I don't regret that decision.

I have no wisdom to share yet but I appreciate every one of you and wish you the very best!

Hi All,

I don't post often but have been following many of your stories. You ladies have continued to give me courage with your success stories. I take the information written here to heart and along with you all hoping for many many years of happy long life ahead.

With many new members, unfortunately, joining us here, I want to say that I am doing well as well. I have completed 4 cycles of Ibrance. The SE have been very tolerable. I take a 20 min cat nap in the afternoon, and am able to carry on regular tasks of working, caring for my family and young daughter. I remember how nervous I was when a fancy pill box arrived at the door and prayers I said before swallowing that very first pill. Thankfully, nothing was as fearful as what I had imagined.

On an even better note, the scan I had last month showed "significant improvement" as per the bottom line of the report. Many of the small tumors have disappeared from the lining of the lung. Bone mets looked stable and liver mets shrunk by a bit. I was too busy shedding my tears of joy that I didn't ask about the details of the report. But, for now, stable is good. Happy to know that many others have had success stories recently....let's do our happy group dance!

There is so many information here to digest. Regarding, dizziness - hydration helps! I was also told to always drink lots of fluid to flush out the toxins in the pill. If the toxins stay in the body for too long, it will effect the liver and kidney. Taking the pill with food is a must for me as well. I also try to never be hungry as then stomach pain sets in.

Piggy: Good luck on your scan today...waiting for your good news!

Sparrow: hope this journey takes you far and long.....you can do it!

Seaway and thereishopeforus, I'm so glad to see you are having good results!

I have a question. From the Ibrance website, "Ibrance (chemical name: palbociclib) has been granted accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be used in combination with the hormonal therapy Femara (chemical name: letrozole) to treat advanced-stage or metastatic, hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that hasn't been treated with hormonal therapy before in postmenopausal women."

My ONC has put me on Ibrance and Femara. When I was first diagnosed 9 years ago I was premenopausal, had surgery, rads and took Tamoxifen for 5 years. Now I am officially in menopause. Why would my ONC prescribe this drug regimen knowing I have previously had hormonal therapy? Probably something I should ask her, and I will, but does this sound familiar to anyone?

there is hope - so happy for your awesome results!!! YAY!

Sparrow;

I too had arimidex for 6 years from 2005 to 2011 and am now on Letrozole. I believe it is a time thing. It's been many years since I took it. Other more knowledgeable will comment but I believe this is what he told me. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone not stage 4 at original diagnosis with hormone positive disease who hadn’t taken tamoxifen or an AI

Best wishes for great success,

Cathy

I knew grapefruit and juice a no no.but in reearching a few things discovered Seville oranges a no no too..and a warning some marmalades use that kind..Mastectomy pain easing.Didn't even take a Tylenol today..Dentist did filling back of front tooth in half an hour..no charge..she likes my guy and I ..She was reviewing Ibrance side effects when I got there.I told her about reading about not using floss or toothpicks..Any comment s on that?.Great boatride with hubby and our Canadian neighbor!! Here for their long weekend!

Hhmm, here is the abstract for the JPCE trial, testing immunotherapy with Abemaciclib for HR-positive, HER2-negative disease. Safety is OK but any sign it works?! Gives next to no information, beyond that they got an ORR of 14.3 % which sounds discouraging- but they don't give a timeframe, unless that is perhaps six months?

Abstract:

Background: Abemaciclib is a selective inhibitor of CDK4 & 6 approved to treat HR+, HER2- metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients (pts) as monotherapy and in combination with fulvestrant. In preclinical models, abemaciclib administered with anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody therapy synergistically induced anti-tumor response and immunologic memory. A Phase I study (JPBJ, NCT02079636) of abemaciclib plus pembrolizumab (Merck & Co.), a programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) antibody, demonstrated stable disease in 65% of pts with stage IV NSCLC along with a generally manageable safety profile. Methods: JPCE is a multicenter, nonrandomized, open-label, Phase 1b study of abemaciclib plus pembrolizumab in pts with HR+, HER2- MBC or stage IV NSCLC. Key eligibility criteria for the MBC cohort were: HR+, HER2- MBC with 1 - 2 prior chemotherapy regimens, measurable disease, adequate organ function, ECOG PS ≤1, and no prior treatment with CDK4 & 6 or PD-1 & PD-L1 inhibitors. The primary objective was to assess safety of the combination per CTCAE v4.0. Secondary objectives were: objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival, duration of response, disease control rate, overall survival, pharmacokinetics and pt-reported disease-related symptoms. Pts received the maximum tolerated dose established in JPBJ; orally administered abemaciclib 150 mg twice daily plus IV administered pembrolizumab 200 mg, day 1 of each 21-day cycle. Results: Twenty-eight pts were enrolled in the MBC cohort. Abemaciclib plus pembrolizumab demonstrated a generally manageable safety profile in pts with HR+, HER2- MBC. Single agent toxicity profiles reported previously were not exacerbated, and no new safety signals were detected. Initial ORR was 14.3%. Patient PD-L1 status by IHC staining (positive ≥1%; negative < 1%), efficacy, and safety data from the 24-week analysis will be presented. Conclusions: Abemaciclib plus pembrolizumab demonstrated a generally manageable safety profile upon initial review (Rugo et al. SABCS 2017). Assessment of the effectiveness of this novel combination, with reference to PD-L1 status, for the treatment of pts with HR+, HER2- MBC is ongoing. Clinical trial information: NCT02779751